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HARVARD  TRANSLATIONS 


HARVARD  TRANSLATIONS 

EuGiPPrus:  The  Life  of  Saint  Severinus. 
Translated  into  English  for  the  first 
time,  with  Notes,  by  George  W. 
Robinson,  A.B.,  Secretary  of  the 
Harvard  Graduate  School  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  8vo.    $1.50  net 

Willibald:  The  Life  of  Saint  Boniface. 
Translated  into  English  for  the  first 
time,  with  Introduction  and  Notes, 
by  George  W.  Robinson. 

8vo.    $1.15  net 


THE 

LIFE  OF  SAINT  BONIFACE 


BY 

WILLIBALD 


TRANSLATED  INTO  ENGLISH  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME 
WITH  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 

BY 

GEORGE  W.  ROBINSON 

SECRETARY  OF  THE  HARVARD  GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF 
ARTS  AND  SCIENCES 


CAMBRIDGE 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON:   HtlMPHREY  MTLFORD 

OXTOED  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

I916 


9  56.^9 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 
HARVARD  UNIYERSITY  PRESS 


f'%   '756 


MANIBUS 

SAMUEL  COLCORD  BARTLETT 

HENRICI  ELIAE  PARKER 

EDUARDI  RUSH  RUGGLES 

LUDOVICI  POLLENS 

RUFI  BYAM  RICHARDSON 

MARVINI  DAVIS  BISBEE 

CAROLI  FRANCISCI  RICHARDSON 

PROFESSORUM  DARTMUTHENSIUM 

INTER  ANNOS  MDCCCXC  ET  MDCCCXCIII 

SACRUM 

SEDEM  SEPULCRI  SERVET  IMMOTUS  CINIS 
MEMORIA  VIVAT  NOMINUM 


PREFACE 

This  first  English  translation  of  Willibald's  Life  of 
Saint  Boniface,  the  Apostle  of  Germany,  is  based  on 
Wilhelm  Levison's  edition  of  the  text:  Vitae  Sancti 
Bonifatii  Archiepiscopi  Moguntini  (Hannoverae  et 
Lipsiae,  1905),  pp.  1-57. 

I  am  glad  to  express  my  obligations  to  Professors 
Ephraim  Emerton  and  Edward  Kennard  Rand  of  Har- 
vard University  for  helpful  suggestions;  and  to  Mr. 
Frederick  C.  Dietz,  who  has  kindly  examined  for  me  a 
number  of  editions  and  translations  in  the  British 
Museum. 

For  some  of  the  references  in  the  notes  I  am  indebted 
to  earlier  commentators.  Where  these  references 
seem  to  have  become  common  property,  I  have  con- 
sidered specific  acknowledgment  unnecessary. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  I  have  employed  cer- 
tain abbreviations  in  the  footnotes,  as  follows: 

E Ernst  Diimmler,  S.  Bonifatii  et  Lulli  Episiolae. 

In  M.  G.  H.,  Epistolae  Merowingici  et  Karolini 

Aevi,  torn,  i  (Berolini,  1892). 
M.  G.H. .  .  Monumenta  Germaniae  Eistorica. 
P.L Jacques  Paul  Migne,  Patrologia  Latina. 

George  W.  RoBmsoN. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
June,  1915. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ii 

THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  BONIFACE 21 

A  LIST  OF  EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS  OF 
THE  LIFE 95 

INDEX  OF  AUTHORS  CITED  IN  THE  NOTES .    .  105 

GENERAL  INDEX 109 


INTRODUCTION 

The  chief  sources  from  which  our  knowledge  of  Saint 
Boniface  is  drawn  are,  first,  the  writings  of  Boniface 
himself,  particularly  his  Letters,  with  the  letters  ad- 
dressed to  him  which  have  been  preserved  with  his 
own;  secondly,  the  Life  by  Willibald.  The  Life  of 
Gregory,!  the  saint's  beloved  disciple,  by  Liudger,^ 
also  presents  a  number  of  valuable  notices;  and  the 
Life  of  Abbot  Sturmi  ^  of  Fulda,  by  Eigil,*  gives  the 
best  and  fullest  account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  great 
abbey  of  Fulda, ^  the  special  deUght  of  the  decHning 
years  of  Boniface,^  and  the  spot  which  he  chose  as  the 
final  resting  place  for  his  bodyJ  Other  contemporary 
material  includes  a  few  passages  in  the  chroniclers,  and 
in  the  Lives  of  Willibald,  bishop  of  Eichstatt,^  and 
Wynnebald,  abbot  of  Heidenheim,^  brothers,  and  rela- 
tives of  Boniface, 1°  by  the  Nun  of  Heidenheim." 

1  Abbot  of  Saint  Martin  at  Utrecht;  died  about  775. 

2  *  Apostle  of  the  Frisians  and  Saxons  ';  bishop  of  Miinster  c.  804- 
809;  died  809. 

'  Died  779.  ■*  Died  822, 

6  Founded  12  March  744.    Eigil,  Vita  Sturmi,  13. 

*  E.,  86;  Albert  Hauck,  Kirchengeschichte  Deutschlands ,  i  (2d  ed., 
Leipsic,  1898),  p.  566. 

^  E.,  86;  pages  79,  90,  below. 

8  Page  77,  below.    Bishop  Willibald  died  not  before  786. 

*  Died  19  December  761. 

1°  Vita  Wynnebaldi,  4:    "  qui  camale  propinquitatis  et  sanguini 
copulatione  illo  fuerat  sociatus  atque  glutinatus." 
"  The  Nun  appears  to  have  written  the  Life  of  Willibald,  from  bis 


12  INTRODUCTION 

The  extant  works  of  Boniface  comprise  a  grammar, 
some  fragments  on  metres,  poems,  letters,  and  fifteen 
sermons.^  The  Life  of  Saint  Livinus,^  formerly 
wrongly  ascribed  to  him,  was  probably  composed 
about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century.* 

The  grammar  (Ars  Domni  Bonifacii  Arckiepiscopi  et 
Martyris)  was  edited  by  Angelo  Mai  in  1835.'*    It  may 

dictation  and  notes,  not  long  after  23  June  778,  and  the  Life  of  Wynne- 
bald  a  little  later,  from  the  relation  of  his  sister  Waldburga.  abbess  of 
Heidenheim,  and  of  his  friends  and  disciples. — Both  Lives  are  printed 
in  M.  G.  H.,  Scriptores,  xv,  i. 

1  The  authenticity  of  the  sermons  has  been  doubted;  but  without 
suflacient  cause.  See  the  remarks  of  F.  W.  Rettberg,  Kirchenge- 
schichte  Deutschlands  (Gottingen,  1846-48),  i,  pp.  408  f.;  and  Adolf 
Ebert,  Geschichte  der  christlich-lateinischen  Liter atur  bis  zum  Zeitalter 
Karls  des  Grossen  (Leipsic,  1874),  p.  614. 

The  so-called  Poenitentiale  S.  Bonifacii,  printed  by  Anton  Joseph 
Binterim  in  his  DenkwUrdigkeiten  der  christ-katholischen  Kirche,  v,  3 
(Mayence,  1829),  pp.  430-436,  cannot  in  its  present  form  be  earlier 
than  the  ninth  century.  Whether  its  substance  may  be  in  part  de- 
rived from  the  teachings  of  Boniface  has  been  a  matter  of  discussion. 
F.  W.  H.  Wasserschleben,  Die  Btissordmmgen  der  abettdldndischen 
Kirche  (Halle,  185 1),  p.  89,  n.  2;  P.  H.  Kulb,  Sdmmtliche  Schriften  des 
heiligen  Bonifacius  (Ratisbon,  1859),  ii,  pp.  439  f.;  H.  J.  Schmitz,  Die 
Bussbiicher  und  die  Bussdisciplin  der  Kirche,  i  (Mayence,  1883),  p.  745, 

August  Niirnberger  publishes  from  Vatican  manuscripts  some  doc- 
trinal fragments  ascribed  to  Boniface.  Programm  des  konigl.  kathol- 
ischen  Gymnasiums  zu  Neisse,  178  (Neisse,  1883),  pp.  xvii  ff.  One  of 
these  fragments  is  highly  interesting  to  students  of  the  tradition  of  the 
Roman  exempla  viriutis. 

2  First  published  by  Nicolaus  Serarius,  Epislolae  S.  Bonifacii 
(Moguntiae,  1605),  pp.  233-252. 

*  Wilhehn  Wattenbach,  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquellen  im  Mittel- 
olter  (7th  ed.,  Berlin,  1904-),  i,  pp.  147,  433. 

*  Classicorum  Auctorum  e  Vaticanis  Codicibus  editorum  Tomus  VII 
(Romae,  1835),  pp.  475-548. 


INTRODUCTION  13 

be  assigned  without  hesitation  to  the  period  of  the 
author's  teaching  activity  at  Nhutscelle.^  The  work  is 
wholly  based  on  earher  writers,  above  all  Donatus ;  ^ 
but  the  material  is  revised  with  a  view  to  the  practical 
needs  of  teacher  and  scholar.^ 

The  fragments  on  metres  *  probably  date  from  the 
same  period.^  They  appear  to  be  based  largely  on  Isi- 
dore of  Seville.^ 

Of  the  poems  the  most  important  is  a  series  of 
twenty  riddles  on  the  virtues  and  vices,  in  388  hexa- 
meters. John  Allen  Giles  published  the  first  161  verses 
in  1844,^  from  a  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum; 
and  the  whole  poem,  from  a  Cambridge  manuscript,  in 
1851.^  The  best  edition  is  by  Ernst  Diimmler^  (Bero- 
lini,   1881).     The  riddles  cannot  be  said  to  possess 

^  Page  33,  below:  "  imbued  .  .  .  with  the  eloquence  of  the  art  of 
grammar." 

2  Max  Manitius,  Geschichte  der  lateinischen  Literatur  des  Mitlel- 
alters,  i  (Munich,  1911),  p.  149. 

3  Ibid. 

*  Printed  in  Thomas  Gaisford's  Scriptores  Latini  Ret  Metricae 
(Oxonii,  1837),  pp.  577-585;  and  (in  part)  by  August  Wilmanns,  in 
the  Rheinisches  Museum,  Neue  Folge,  xxiii  (1868),  pp.  403  f. 

^  Page  33,  below:  "imbued  .  .  .  with  the  pithy  modulation  of  the 
eloquence  of  metres  ";  £.,98. 

8  Wilmanns  notes  a  comical  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of  Boni- 
face. Isidore  {Etymologiae,  i,  37  —  Wilmanns's  reference  is  wrong) 
says  prosae  autem  studium  scro  vigidt;  Boniface  renders  this  Orationis 
autem  sttidium  primum  egit  Seron. 

''  Bonifacii  Opera,  ii,  pp.  109-115.  Not  the  complete  poem,  as 
Manitius  wrongly  says  (op.  cit.,  i,  p.  151):  erring  through  a  misunder- 
standing of  a  passage  in  Diimmler's  preface. 

*  Anecdota  Bedae,  Lanfranci,  et  aliorum,  pp.  18-24,  38-45. 
»  M.  G.  H.,  Poetae  Latini  Aevi  Carolini,  i,  pp.  3-15. 


14  INTRODUCTION 

much  merit  as  poetry;  nevertheless  they  are  import- 
ant because  of  the  light  which  they  shed  upon  the  ideas 
and  character  of  Boniface.  We  have  a  brief  introduc- 
tion, and  then  addresses  of  the  ten  principal  virtues  and 
as  many  vices :  Love,  Orthodoxy,  Hope,  Justice,  Truth, 
Mercy,  Patience,  Christian  Peace,  Christian  Humility, 
Virginity;  Greed,  Haughtiness,  Gluttony,  Drunken- 
ness, Luxury,  Envy,  Ignorance,  Vainglory,  Negligence, 
Wrath.  That  the  riddles  were  composed  after  Boni- 
face entered  upon  his  work  in  Germany  has  been  in- 
ferred from  verses  323  f.,  in  the  address  of  Ignorance: 

"  Ob  quod  semper  amavit  me  Germanica  tellus, 
Rustica  gens  hominum  Sclaforum  et  Scythia  dura." 

In  addition  to  the  riddles,  there  remain  verses  ad- 
dressed to  Dudd,^  which  may  have  served  as  a  dedica- 
tion of  the  grammar;  ^  and  lines  attached  to  letters  to 
Nithard  ^  and  Pope  Zacharias.^ 

The  letters  were  first  edited  by  Nicolaus  Serarius  in 
1605 ;  ^  the  best  editions  are  those  of  Phihpp  Jaffe  ^ 

^  Diimmler,  op.  cit.,  pp.  16  f. 
2  Manitius,  op.  cit.,  i,  p.  149. 

*  E.,  so.  Diimmler,  op.  cit.,  pp.  1-19,  publishes  all  these  as  Boni- 
fatii  Carmina,  with  a  preface.  He  also  assigns  Carmina,  iv  (p.  18),  to 
Boniface,  but  withdraws  the  ascription  in  his  edition  of  the  Letters 
printed  eleven  years  later.    E.,  140. 

^  Epistolae  S.  Bonifacii  Martyris,  Primi  Moguntini  Archiepiscopi, 
Germanorum  Apostoli,  pluriumque  Pontificum,  Regum,  b"  aliorum. 
Mogimtiae,  1605. 

'  In  his  Bibliotheca  Rerum  Germanicarum,  torn,  iii  (Monumenta 
Moguntina),  pp.  24-315. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

(1866)  and  Ernst  Dummler  ^  (1892).  The  collection  in 
which  they  are  preserved  includes  not  only  letters  of 
Boniface  and  his  successor  Lul,  but  many  written  to 
them,  and  a  number  of  others  of  the  same  time;  besides 
a  few  earher  ones  by  Aldhelm  ^  and  others,^  apparently 
included  as  models  of  composition.  The  letters  of 
Boniface,  which  cover  the  period  from  about  716 
nearly  to  the  time  of  his  death,  are  of  great  interest  and 
value.  Some  are  to  the  popes,^  concerning  questions 
of  doctrine  and  administration;  ^  one  is  a  striking  mes- 
sage of  admonition  to  King  Aethelbald  of  Mercia;  ® 
others  are  to  the  Frankish  rulers;  ^  but  a  peculiar 
charm  attaches  to  those  which  the  saint  wrote  to  his 
devoted  Anglo-Saxon  friends,  male  ^  and  female,^  as- 
suring them  of  his  warm  and  constant  love,  thanking 
them  for  gifts,^"  and  asking,  now  for  advice,^^  now  for 
their  prayers  in  his  behalf  ^^  and  in  that  of  the  pagan 
Germans  ^^  whose  conversion  he  sought,  but  perhaps 

1  In  M.  G.  H.,  Epistolae  Merowingici  et  Karolini  Aevi,  i,  pp.  231- 

431- 

2  E.,  1,2,3;  6V  (in  verse). 

^  Ibid.,  4,  5,  7,  8;  6I-6IV  (in  verse). 

*  To  Zacharias,  ibid.,  50,  86;  to  Stephen  III,  ibid.,  108,  109. 

*  Ibid.,  50,  86,  109.  8  Ibid.,  73. 
^  Ibid.,  48,  93,  107. 

8  Ibid.,  g,  32,  33,  34,  38,  63,  69,  74,  75,  76,  78,  91. 

9  Ibid.,  10,  27,  30,  35,  6s,  66,  67,  94,  96. 
"»  Ibid.,  27,  30,  75,  78,  91. 

"  Ibid.,  32,  33,  34,  63,  91. 

12  Ibid.,  27,  30,  33,  34,  38,  65,  66,  67,  74,  76,  91,  94. 

"  Ibid.,  38,  65.  46  is  a  general  request  "  to  all  God-fearing  Catho- 
lics of  English  race  and  stock  "  to  pray  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  Saxons. 


1 6  INTRODUCTION 

most  eagerly  of  all  for  books. ^  "  I  beseech  that  thou 
copy  for  me  in  gold  the  epistles  of  my  lord,  Saint  Peter 
the  Apostle,  unto  the  honor  and  reverence  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  before  the  eyes  of  fleshly  folk  when  I 
preach." ^ 

Dr.  Giles  has  given  English  translations  of  letters  of 
Boniface  to  Bishop  Daniel  of  Winchester,  the  Abbess 
Bugga,  and  the  youth  Nithard.^'  Dr.  Isaac  Gregory 
Smith  translates  the  letter  to  Bugga;  others  to  the 
Abbess  Eadburga  and  to  Abbot  Dudd;  and  part  of  one 
to  Pope  Zacharias.^  Edward  KyUe  has  translated  the 
correspondence  of  Boniface  and  his  English  friends.^ 

The  sermons,  first  printed  in  1733,®  are  most  easily 
accessible  in  Giles's  ^  or  Migne's  ^  edition  of  the  works 
of  Boniface.  Dr.  Giles,  in  the  preface  to  the  second 
volume  of  his  edition,  turns  into  EngHsh  Remy  Ceil- 
lier's  summary  of  their  contents;  and  a  translation  of 
part  of  one  may  be  found  in  Dr.  Smith's  Boniface.^  In 
the  sixth  sermon  is  an  especially  vigorous  denunciation 
of  heathen  practices,  and  a  lively  description  of  the 
place  of  torment  that  awaits  those  who  are  guilty  of 
them  or  of  other  capital  sins. 

'  -E-,  33,  34,  35,  63,  75,  76,  Qi-  ^  Ibid.,  35. 

^  Bonifacii  Opera  (1844),  i,  PP-  12-20.    E.,  63,  94,  9. 

*  Boniface  (1896),  pp.  81-93.    £.,6$,  94,  34,  5°- 

^  The  English  Correspondence  of  Saint  Boniface  (London,  191 1): 
in  the  series  called  The  King's  Classics. 

*  At  Paris,  in  Edmond  Martene  and  Ursin  Durand's  Veterum  Scrip- 
torum  Amplissima  Colleclio,  torn,  ix,  coll.  185-218. 

'  London,  1844:  vol.  ii,  pp.  57-107. 

*  P.  L.,  vol.  Ixxxix  (Parisiis,  1850),  coll.  843-872. 
9  Pp.  99  ff. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

The  Life  of  Boniface  by  Willibald,  the  translation  of 
which  we  give,  was  written  within  a  few  years  of  the 
saint's  death,  almost  certainly  not  later  than  768,^  at 
the  request  of  Boniface's  successor,  Lul,  and  of  Bishop 
Megingoz  of  Wiirzburg.  Wilhbald,  a  priest  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin,^  is  an  author  worthy  of  all  respect  as 
regards  industry  and  veracity.  The  chief  defects  of 
his  work  are  two:  a  style  inflated  and  obscure,  sup- 
ported by  no  sufiicient  foundation  of  grammatical 
knowledge;  and  the  comparative  scantiness  of  the  in- 
formation which  he  supplies  concerning  much  of  the 
later  Hfe  of  Boniface.^  Fortunately  the  omissions  can 
be  supplied  in  part  from  the  other  sources. 

Later  Hves  of  Boniface  are  printed,  in  full  or  in  part, 
and  discussed  by  Levison  in  his  Vitae  Bonifatii.  These 
add  Uttle  or  nothing  to  our  knowledge;  indeed,  they 
have  rather  served  to  confuse  the  history  of  the  saint. 
This  is  particularly  true,  in  different  ways,  of  the 
worthless  Mayence  legends  collected  in  the  work  which 
Levison  calls  the  *  Fourth  Life,'  and  of  the  attempts  to 
simplify  and  popularize  made  by  the  monk  Otloh  of 
St.  Emmeram,  the  most  distinguished  writer  of  his 

^  Levison,  Vitae  Bonifatii,  p.  x. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  viii  f.  He  was  long  confused  with  Saint  Willibald, 
bishop  of  Eichstatt.  Ibid.,  pp.  xni  i.  To  this  confusion  may  be  traced 
Manitius's  amazing  reference  to  him  as  a  relative  of  Boniface.  Ge- 
schichte  der  lateinischen  Literatur  des  Mittelalters,  i,  p.  146. 

'  E.  g.,  he  does  not  mention  Pope  Zacharias  (741-52),  with  whom 
Boniface  had  a  copious  correspondence.  Wattenbach  discusses  the 
general  question  of  the  omissions.  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquellen, 
i,  pp.  151  f. 


1 8  INTRODUCTION 

time,  whose  work  was  written  during  his  stay  at  Fulda 
in  the  years  1062  to  1066.^ 

The  modern  literature  relative  to  Boniface  is  impos- 
ing in  quantity,  particularly  in  Germany;  of  its  aver- 
age quahty  not  so  much  can  be  said.  One  may  begin 
with  the  notices  annexed  to  the  editions  which  I  have 
named,  and  with  the  sections  in  the  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tories of  Rettberg  and  Hauck,  in  Ebert's  Geschichte  der 
christlich-lateinischen  Literatur,  and  in  Max  Mani- 
tius's  Geschichte  der  lateinischen  Literatur  des  Mittelal- 
ters:  these,  with  Potthast's  Wegweiser,  will  point  the 
way  to  further  study.  In  English  there  is  Httle  of 
scholarly  worth,  save  for  the  booklet  Boniface,  by 
Isaac  Gregory  Smith,  in  the  series  The  Fathers  for  Eng- 
lish Readers. 

We  are  indebted  to  England,  on  the  other  hand,  for 
WilUam  Selwyn's  fine  poem  Winfrid,  afterwards  called 
Boniface  (Cambridge  and  London,  1865),  in  blank 
verse.2  In  German  poetry  Johann  Baptist  Rousseau's 
Das  Bonifazius-Lied  ^  (Mayence,  1855)  is  not  without 
merit.    Dr.  Wiss's  Latin  poem  Bonifacius,  affixed  to 

1  "  Petitionibus  vestris,  fratres  Fuldenses,  prout  scientiae  meae 
parvitas  permisit,  parere  studui.  Petistis  enim,  ut  sancti  patris  nostri 
Bonifacii  vitam  precipuo  quidem  elegantique,  utpote  sancti  Willi- 
baldi,  stilo  antiquitus  editam,  sed  in  locis  quibusdam  ita  infirmo  intel- 
lectxii  velatam,  ut  difl&cile  pateat  quo  oratio  tendat,  banc  ego  sententia 
apertiori  reserarem."    Otloh,  Vita  Bonifacii,  Prologus. 

^915  lines. 

^  Zur  Erinnerung  an  die  V erherrlichung  des  heil.  Winfried-Boni- 
fazius,  des  Aposlels  von  Deutschland  und  Erzbischofs  von  Mainz,  bei  der 
eilfhundertjahrigen  Jubelfeier  von  dessen  Martyrium  im  Juni  1855. 
Fifty-six  pages.    There  is  a  curious  Politische  Apostrophe  (pp.  50-52) 


INTRODUCTION  19 

his  translation  of  the  Letters  (Fulda,  1842), also  should 
not  be  overlooked.  Trithemius's  story  of  a  poem  on 
Boniface  in  heroic  verse,  by  Ruthard,  a  monk  of 
Hirschau,  is  a  pure  invention.^ 

The  importance  of  the  work  of  Boniface  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical, and,  indeed,  in  the  general  history  of 
Europe  cannot  easily  be  exaggerated.  His  activities 
may,  however,  be  viewed  under  several  aspects,  ac- 
cording as  we  consider  him  as  one  of  the  foremost 
scholars  of  his  time,  introducer  of  learning  and  htera- 
ture  and  to  a  large  extent  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life 
into  the  German  lands;  or  as  the  great  champion  of 
Rome  and  of  ecclesiastical  uniformity  in  Central  Eu- 
rope; or  as  a  missionary  of  God,  a  soldier  and  leader  in 
the  great  Christian  warfare  against  the  heathen  of  the 
North.    The  relative  value  which  should  be  assigned 

in  denunciation  of  the  English  for  their  aid  to  Turkey  in  the  Crimean 
War: 

"  Vor  eilfhundert  Jahren  und  noch  friiher 

Sandte  England  Manner  uber's  Meer, 

Deutsche  Heiden,  die  im  Pferdgewieher 

Gottes  Nahe  wahnten,  als  Erzieher 

Zu  gewinnen  fiir  die  Christuslehr'. 

Nach  eilfhundert  Jahren  ziehn  die  Briten 
.  .  .  Hort!  .  .  .  mit  einer  Riesenflotte  aus, 
Um  fiir  Die,  wodurch  wir  nur  gelitten, 
Heiden,  Haremshelden,  Sodomiten, 
Christen  zu  bereiten  blut'gen  Strauss." 

^  Joannes  Trithenaius,  Chronicon  Monasterii  Hirsaugiensis  (Basil- 
eae,  1559),  p.  21:  "  Ruthardus  quoque  .  .  .  hujus  coenobii  Hirsau- 
giensis .  .  .  scripsit  .  .  .  passionem  sancti  Bonifacii  archiepiscopi 
heroico  carmine  pulcherrime  in  duobus  libris."  See  Levison,  Vitae 
Bonifatii,  p.  xlvii,  n.  2. 


20  INTRODUCTION 

to  his  labors  in  enforcing  uniformity  within  the  church, 
and  in  seeking  the  conversion  of  the  pagan  folk  with- 
out, must  always  remain  an  open  question.  No  doubt 
certain  tendencies,  poUtical  rather  than  religious,  in 
the  German  historical  writing  of  the  last  half-century 
have  tended  to  exalt  the  proportionate  importance  of 
his  work  as  an  ecclesiastical  organizer.  I  think  the 
man  himself  saw  more  truly,  as  the  witness  of  his 
martyr's  death  attests. 


THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  BONIFACE 


THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  BONIFACE 

PROLOGUE 

To  the  lords  venerable  and  truly  in  Christ  most  dear, 
Lul  and  Megingoz  colleagues  in  the  episcopacy,  Willi- 
bald,  priest  in  the  Lord,  though  unworthy. 

Paying  due  complaisance  of  obedience  to  your  holi- 
ness, but  with  no  confident  reliance  upon  my  own  liter- 
ary training,  I  have  cheerfully  obeyed  in  will  and  act 
your  pious  fatherly  command.  With  my  feeble 
strength  I  have  begun  and  carried  through  unto  the 
end  the  difficult  task  which  ye  imposed  upon  me.  But 
I  beseech  that  if  the  result  shall  be  otherwise  than  as 
your  wish  desires,  ye  weigh  justly  the  weakness  of  my 
infirmity  and  the  loftiness  of  the  task  laid  upon  me, 
since  it  is  the  strongest  proof  of  my  regard  that  I  do 
not  refuse  obedience  to  your  sublime  command.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  shall  accompHsh  anything  worthy 
and  that  shall  profit  our  times,  assuredly  it  must  be  as- 
cribed to  the  divine  gift,^  and  to  your  command  and 
earnest  desire;  since  sometimes  the  pious  wish  of  one 
who  earnestly  desires  may  be  Hkened  unto  the  hand  of 

^  For  the  words  and  ideas  of  the  Prologue  to  this  point,  Willibald  is 
largely  indebted  to  the  prefatory  letter  prefixed  by  Victorias  Aqui- 
tanus  to  the  Easter  Table  which  he  sent  to  Archdeacon  Hilary  of 
Rome  in  457.  M.  G.  H.,  Auctores  Antiquissimi,  ix  (Berolini,  1892), 
pp.  677  f. 

33 


24  WILLIBALD 

a  man  who  presses  the  oilpress,  and  by  the  strength  of 
its  pressing  obtains  at  least  a  little  of  the  sweet  fruit  of 
the  longed  for  knowledge,  and,  bestowing  it,  revives 
the  famishing.  For  your  hoHness  has  determined  to 
make  equal,  even  to  prefer,  the  foohsh  to  the  wise, 
and  the  less  capable  to  the  prudent,  and  to  commit  to 
me  in  my  ignorance  that  which  surely  without  effort  ye 
could  have  presented  in  the  language  of  the  wise.  But 
I  entreat  that  the  supplication  of  continual  prayer  may 
bedew  him  whom  the  oilpress  of  your  command  hath 
pressed.  I  entreat  that  his  mind,  dulled  by  the  fog  of 
sloth,  may  be  awakened  by  the  wish  of  your  sponta- 
neous love:  in  order  that  for  the  task,  to  which  it  has 
been  summoned  through  your  compulsion,  it  may  be 
strengthened  by  a  vigorous  literary  style. 

For  at  the  request  of  religious  and  CathoUc  men,  to 
whom,  whether  in  the  parts  of  Tuscany  or  the  confines 
of  Gaul  or  the  approaches  of  Germany  or  even  within 
the  bounds  of  Britain,  great  report  had  come  of  the 
fame  and  of  the  dazzling  miracles  of  Saint  Boniface  the 
martyr,  ye  have  constrained  me  to  write,  after  the  pat- 
tern of  those  whose  pure  lives  and  virtuous  characters 
the  most  holy  fathers  have  put  on  paper  in  elegantly 
circumlocutory  language  ^  and  handed  down,  the  be- 
ginning, course,  and  end  of  his  life,  as  I  should  ascer- 
tain it,  making  the  most  careful  investigation  in  my 
power,  from  the  narration  of  his  disciples  who  had  long 
tarried  with  him,  or  of  yourselves.    And  as,  when  the 

'  Eleganti  verborum  ambage.  An  excellent  description  of  Willi- 
bald's  own  ideal  of  style. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  25 

covenant  of  the  first  transgression  was  cancelled  ^  and 
the  rays  of  the  true  light  began  to  dawn,  Hegesippus, 
who  is  reported  to  have  come  to  Rome  in  the  time  of 
Anacletus,^  published,  it  is  said,  five  books  of  church 
history  for  the  profit  of  readers;  ^  and  as  Eusebius  of 
Caesarea,  the  most  famous  among  the  writers  of  his- 
tory, and  his  assistant,  the  martyr  Pamphilus,  com- 
posing the  histories  of  their  own  and  preceding  times 
with  wondrous  eloquence  of  language,  published  in- 
numerable volumes;*  and,  further,  as  Gregory^  of 
blessed  memory,  a  man  most  learned  in  literary  studies 
and  occuping  the  glorious  height  of  the  apostolic  chair, 
wrote  the  life  of  the  sainted  confessors,  exhibiting  a 
marvellously  managed  dialectic  style,  and  published 
the  work  in  four  books  in  syllogistic  form,^  which  to 
this  day,  placed  in  the  libraries  of  the  churches,  bring 
to  posterity  the  laborious  grandeur  of  knowledge:  so 
ye  bid  me  to  reveal  to  this  age  and  to  the  ages  to  come 
the  life  of  the  saint,  and  his  lofty  virtues,  his  practice  of 
piety,  and  the  strength  of  his  abstinence.^  But  al- 
though I  know  that  I  am  a  slight  and  insignificant 

^  Hebrews,  ix,  15. 

2  Anicetus,  bishop  of  Rome  157  ?-i68:  sometimes  known  as  Ana- 
cletus  I. 

^  Saint  Jerome,  De  Viris  Illustribus,  22. 

*  Ibid.,  81. 

^  Gregory  the  Great,  pope  590-604. 

*  Dialogorum  Libri  IV  de  Vita  et  Miraculis  Patrum  Italicorum  et  de 
Aeternitate  Animarum. 

''  Here  and  in  the  following  sentence  Willibald  borrows  words  and 
phrases  freely  from  the  prologue  of  Rufinus's  Historia  Monachorum. 
P.  L.,  xxi,  coll.  387  f. 


26  WILLIBAI.D 

writer  to  tell  so  great  a  story,  yet,  since  the  wish  of 
your  benevolence  demands,  I  will  attempt,  with  your 
aid,  this  task  which  ye  have  given  me  in  charge:  not 
relying  on  the  pride  of  my  own  presumption,  but  trust- 
ing confidently  in  the  assistance  of  Catholics;  nor 
seeking  from  my  weak  pen  the  spreading  abroad  of  my 
own  glory;  but  furnishing  by  the  relation  of  so  great  a 
story  an  example  that  shall  profit  readers,  as  each, 
learning  from  this  pattern,  is  led  to  better  things  by  the 
perfection  of  his  own  progress. 


CHAPTER  I 

How  m  Childhood  he  began  to  serve  God 

The  illustrious  and  truly  blessed  life  of  Saint  Boniface 
the  archbishop,  and  his  character,  consecrated  partic- 
ularly by  imitation  of  the  saints,  as  I  have  learned 
them  from  the  narratives  of  pious  men,  who,  having 
zealously  attended  upon  his  daily  conversation  and  the 
way  of  his  piety,  handed  down  to  posterity  as  an  ex- 
ample those  tilings  which  they  heard  or  saw:  this  Ufe 
and  character  I  seek,  hindered  as  I  am  by  the  darkness 
of  knowledge,  to  interweave  in  the  meagre  warp  of  this 
work  and  to  present  concisely  in  the  plain  garb  of  his- 
tory; and  from  the  beginning  even  unto  the  end,  with 
the  most  thorough  investigation  in  my  power,  to  reveal 
the  sanctity  of  his  divine  contemplation. 

When,  in  the  first  bloom  of  boyhood,^  his  mother  had 
weaned  and  reared  him  with  a  mother's  wonted  great 
and  anxious  care,  his  father  took  exceeding  great  de- 
light in  his  companionship,  and  loved  him  above  his 
brothers.  But  when  he  was  about  four  or  five  years 
old,  it  was  his  passion  to  enter  God's  service  and  to 
study  and  toil  over  the  monastic  life  continually, 

^  We  may  reasonably  suppose  that  the  childhood  of  Boniface  was 
passed  in  southwestern  England,  not  far  from  Exeter.  However,  the 
statement  that  he  was  born  at  Crediton,  in  Devonshke,  cannot  be 
traced  further  back  than  John  de  Grandisson,  bishop  of  Exeter  1327- 
69.    Levison,  Vitae  Bonijaiii,  pp.  xxix,  5,  n.  2. 

27 


28  WILLIBALD 

and  his  soul  panted  after  that  life  every  day;  for 
already  he  had  subdued  unto  his  spirit  all  that  is  tran- 
sitory and  determined  to  meditate  upon  the  things  of 
eternity  rather  than  those  of  the  present.  Indeed, 
when  certain  priests,  or  clerks,  had  gone  out  to  the  lay 
folk  to  preach  unto  them,  as  is  the  custom  in  those 
countries,  1  and  had  come  to  the  town  and  house  of  the 
saint's  father,  presently,  so  far  as  the  weakness  of  his 
tender  years  permitted,  the  child  began  to  talk  with 
them  of  heavenly  things,  and  to  ask  what  would  help 
him  and  his  infirmity  ^  for  the  future. 

When  thus  in  protracted  meditation  he  had  thought 
long  of  heavenly  things,  and  his  whole  being  was  strain- 
ing forward  to  the  future  and  upward  to  the  things 
which  are  on  high,  at  last  he  laid  bare  his  heart  to  his 
father,  and  asked  him  to  take  his  desire  in  good  part. 
His  father,  astounded  at  the  tidings,  rebuked  him  most 
vehemently;  and,  on  the  one  hand,  forbade  him  with 
threats  to  abandon  him;  on  the  other,  incited  him 
with  blandishments  to  the  care  of  worldly  business; 
that  he  might  subdue  him  to  the  temporal  gain  of  a 
transitory  inheritance,  and,  when  his  own  death  came, 

^  Bede,  Vila  S.  Cuthberti,  g,  and  Historia  Ecclesiastica,  iv,  27 
(Giles's  translation) :  "  It  was  then  the  custom  of  the  English  people, 
that  when  a  clerk  or  priest  came  into  the  town,  they  all,  at  his  com- 
mand, flocked  together  to  hear  the  word,  willingly  heard  what  was 
said,  and  more  willingly  practised  those  things  that  they  could  hear 
and  understand."  The  practice  of  itinerant  preaching  appears  to 
have  fallen  into  disuse  early  in  the  eighth  century  upon  the  general 
institution  of  parish  churches. 

2  In  the  sense  of  human  frailty,  as  in  Hebrews,  iv,  15;  v,  2;  vii, 
28. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  29 

leave  him  guardian,  or  rather  heir,  of  his  earthly  goods. 
Using  the  deceitful  subtlety  of  human  cunning,  he 
strove  in  long  talks  to  turn  aside  the  young  heart  from 
the  fulfilment  of  the  purpose  it  had  formed,  and  prom- 
ised, with  many  a  flattering  word,  that  this  active 
Ufe  would  be  more  tolerable  to  the  child's  tender  years 
than  the  contemplative  Hf e  of  the  monastic  warfare :  ^ 
that  so  he  might  restrain  the  boy  from  the  attempt  to 
carry  out  this  purpose;  and  incite  him  to  the  vo- 
luptuousness of  mundane  luxury.  But  the  saint  was 
already  in  his  boyhood  filled  with  God's  spirit;  and 
the  more  his  father  held  him  back,  the  more  he  took 
stout  heart,  and  anxiously  panted  to  provide  himself 
a  treasure  in  heaven,^  and  to  join  himself  to  the 
sacred  study  of  letters.  And  it  happened  in  wondrous 
wise,  as  ever  the  divine  compassion  is  wont  to  act,  that 
God  in  his  foresight  bestowed  upon  his  young  soldier 
consolation  in  his  undertaking  and  an  increase  of 
anxious  desire,  and  a  hasty  change  of  mind  in  the  ob- 
stinate father :  so  that  at  one  and  the  same  instant  of 
time  sudden  sickness  crept  upon  the  father,  whom  the 
unexpected  moment  of  death  already  threatened;  and 
the  boy's  pious  desire,  long  balked,  increased  most 
swiftly,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Lord  God,  was  fulfilled 
and  perfected  in  its  increase. 

For  the  saint's  father  according  to  the  flesh,  when 
by  the  wonderful  judgment  of  the  dispensation  of 

*  See  Eugippius,  The  Life  of  Saint  Severinui,  English  translation 
(Cambridge,  1914),  p.  45,  n.  i. 
^  Matthew,  vi,  20;  Luke,  xii,  3^. 


30  WILLIBALD 

God  great  sickness  had  seized  upon  him,  quickly  put 
away  his  former  obstinacy  of  heart,  made  an  assembly 
of  the  kindred,  and  of  his  own  free  will,  but  moved 
by  the  Lord,  directed  the  boy  to  the  monastery  which 
is  called  by  a  name  of  the  ancients  Ad-Escancastre,^ 
and  committed  him  to  an  embassy  of  trusty  messen- 
gers to  deliver  to  the  faithful  Wulfhard,  who  was 
abbot  of  that  monastery.  The  Httle  boy,  his  friends 
standing  beside  him,  addressed  Wulfhard  discreetly, 
and,  making  his  request  inteUigently,  as  his  parents  ^ 
had  taught  him  aforetime,  declared  that  he  had  long 
desired  to  submit  himself  to  the  monastic  rule. 
Forthwith  the  father  of  the  monastery,  after  taking 
counsel  with  the  brethren  and  receiving  their  bene- 
diction, as  the  order  of  the  regular  Ufe  demanded,^ 
granted  his  consent  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  boy's 
wish.  And  so  the  man  of  God,  bereaved  of  his  father 
according  to  the  flesh,  followed  the  adoptive  father  of 
our  redemption,*  and,  renouncing  the  earthly  gains  of 
the  world,  strove  to  acquire  the  merchandise  of  an 
eternal  inheritance:  that,  according  to  the  veridical 
voice  of  truth,  by  forsaking  father,  or  mother,  or  lands, 
or  the  other  things  which  are  of  this  world,  he  should 
receive  a  hundredfold,  and  should  inherit  everlasting 

life.s 

^  Exeter. 

2  Perhaps  rather  '  relatives.' 

3  Saint  Benedict  of  Nursia,  Regula,  3. 
*  Romans,  viii,  14,  15,  23. 

^  Matthew,  xix,  29. 


CHAPTER  II 

How  IN  THE  Beginning  he  overcame  the  Passions 
OF  Youth  and  clave  to  all  that  was  Good 

The  first  section  of  our  narrative  is  now  completed, 
though  in  outline.^  Next  we  shall  briefly  make  known 
the  virtuousness  to  which  the  saint  trained  himself  in 
the  beginning  of  his  studious  Uf e :  in  order  that  after  we 
have  laid  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  of  our  work,  the 
loftiness  of  the  structure  may  Kttle  by  little  be  raised 
higher  to  the  summit. 

For  after  he  waxed  in  age  and  in  admirable  strength 
of  knowledge,  and  the  seven  years  of  infancy  ^  gUded 
away,  and  the  glory  of  boyhood  came,  by  the  inspira- 
tion of  heavenly  grace  he  was  enriched  with  great  and 
unutterable  dignity  of  mind,  as  is  shown  by  the  ex- 
amples given  later  in  this  work;  and,  living  according 
to  the  model  afforded  by  the  earlier  saints,  and  in 
obedience  to  the  ordinances  of  the  venerable  fathers, 
he  was  manifested  and  adorned  by  the  purity  of  many 
virtues.  Moreover  he  was  so  kindled  by  divine  genius, 
and  so  appHed  himself  especially  to  the  exercise  of 
reading,  that  in  all  the  moments  and  hours  and  revolv- 
ing years  that  were  added  to  his  life,  the  helps  and  the 

^  An  imitation  of  Aldhelm,  De  Laude  Virginitatis,  40.  Levison 
points  out  other  verbal  borrowings  from  Aldhelm  in  the  notes  to  his 
edition,  pp.  3,  11,  12,  14,  18,  27,  42,  50. 

2  Isidorus  Hispalensis,  Etymologiae,  xi,  2;  Bede,  VitaS.  Culhbertl,  1. 

31 


32  WILLIBALD 

divinely  augmented  gifts  of  the  Protector  on  high  were 
also  increased  within  him.  And  the  more  he  progressed 
in  the  school  of  the  priesthood,  the  more,  as  trusty  men 
who  were  his  intimate  associates  have  borne  certain 
witness,  did  his  daily  studies,  in  continual  meditation 
day  and  night  upon  literary  training,  incite  him  to  the 
increase  of  eternal  blessedness,  and  protect  him  mar- 
vellously against  the  inimical  persecutions  of  diaboKcal 
suggestion,  which  among  men  are  wont  often  to  cover 
the  tender  flower  of  youth  as  it  were  with  a  kind  of  fog 
of  cloudy  darkness;  so  that  also,  because  of  his  cease- 
less care  and  long  solicitude  and  his  perpetual  exami- 
nation of  the  sacred  laws,  and  by  the  help  of  the  Lord 
God,  the  seductive  passions  of  youth  within  him,  and 
the  assaults  with  which  fleshly  lusts  at  first  assailed 
him,  for  the  most  part  subsided.  And  more  and  more 
his  studies  carried  him  forward  to  the  general  instruc- 
tion of  the  people,^  which,  after  the  passage  of  no  great 
interval  of  time,  he  began,  enlarged,  and  perfected,  in 
accordance  with  the  episcopal  ordinance  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal prescription.  For  he  despised  the  perishable  adorn- 
ments of  this  world,  and  in  his  childhood,  under  the 
moderate  government  of  Father  Wulfhard,  kept  the 
pattern  of  the  monastic  Ufe  well  and  duly  for  many 
years;  until,  when  sportive  boyhood  was  over  and 
manly  youth  began,^  the  more  glowing  desire  of  his 

1  As  described  later  in  this  chapter  and  in  the  following.  The  con- 
jecture of  Jaffe  and  Levison,  that  the  reference  is  to  Boniface's  later 
activities  among  the  pagans,  cannot  be  accepted. 

2  At  fourteen.  Isidorus  Hispalensis,  Etymologiae,  xi,  2.  Willibald 
appears  to  have  in  mind  this  passage  of  Isidore,  or  the  similar  one 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  33 

spirit  fired  him  to  go,  with  the  consent  and  advice  of 
his  trusty  fellow  servants  and  of  the  father  of  the  mon- 
astery, to  neighboring  monasteries  also,  whither  he  was 
summoned  by  the  want  of  teachers  of  reading.^ 

And  when  in  wish  and  spirit  he  asked  constantly  and 
with  great  perseverance  in  prayer  that  the  approbation 
of  the  Almighty  should  be  present  unto  him,  at  length, 
inspired  by  divine  grace  from  heaven,  he  came  to  the 
monastery  which  even  to  this  day  is  called  Nhutscelle;^ 
and,  incited  by  the  spiritual  love  of  letters,  chose  the 
mastership  of  Abbot  Winbert  of  blessed  memory,^  who 
was  venerably  governing  the  monastery  under  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  rule,  and  the  companionship  of  the  breth- 
ren who  there  dwelt  with  him  in  the  Lord.  And  so, 
joined  to  the  fellowship  of  the  servants  of  God,  he 
exhibited  with  great  zeal  of  meditation  devoted  service 
to  the  Lord  God,  and  laborious  perseverance  in  vigils, 
and  the  work  of  reading  the  divine  word;  so  that  he 
was  imbued  not  only  with  the  eloquence  of  the  art  of 
grammar  and  with  the  pithy  modulation  of  the  elo- 
quence of  metres,'*  but  also  with  the  straightforward 

of  Bede,  mentioned  above,  in  the  references  to  the  periods  of  human 
life  which  he  makes  here  and  elsewhere. 

1  The  language  is  ambiguous.  But  the  connection  shows  that  the 
lack  of  teachers  was  at  Exeter. 

2  Nursling,  or  Nutshalling,  between  Winchester  and  Southampton; 
as  Selwyn  has  it, 

"  Nutescelle,  sheltering  under  Winton's  see, 
Where  woodland  Hants  o'er  narrow  channel  looks, 
To  the  fair  Isle." 
'  Mentioned  by  Boniface,  £.,63. 

*  It  is  to  this  period  that  we  may  best  assign  the  grammatical 
and  metrical  writings  of  Boniface,  mentioned  in  the  Introduction. 


34  WILLIBALD 

exposition  of  history  and  with  the  triple  interpretation 
of  spiritual  knowledge/  and  at  last  shone  so  praise- 
worthily  in  immense  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  and 
in  skill  of  teaching,  that  he  was  even  a  teacher  to  others 
of  the  traditions  of  the  fathers,  and  a  model  master, 
who  before  did  not  refuse  to  be  the  pupil  of  inferiors. 
For  it  is  the  manner  of  holy  conversation,  that  he  dare 
not  prefer  himself  to  others,  who  has  refused  to  be  sub- 
ject to  others:  because  he  will  not  be  able  rightly  to 
apply  to  inferiors  the  service  of  obedience  which  he 
does  not  duly  render  to  those  that  are  set  over  him  by 
the  direction  of  heaven.^ 

This  service  the  saint  in  such  wise  gave,  under  a 
monk's  obedience,  to  all  the  members  of  the  com- 
munity, and  above  all,  as  the  discipline  of  the  rule 
demanded,  to  his  abbot,  that  in  accordance  with  the 
prescribed  pattern  of  the  noble  constitution  of  the 
blessed  father  Benedict  ^  he  applied  himself  without 
ceasing  to  daily  labor  of  his  hands  and  to  the  regular 
performance  of  his  duties:  being  an  example  for  all 
of  right  Hving,  in  word,  in  conversation,  in  faith,  in 

1  Joannes  Cassianus,  Conlationes,  xiv,  8,  i :  "  Spiritalis  autem 
scientiae  genera  sunt  tria,  tropologia,  allegoria,  anagoge  "  ;  ibid., 
xiv,  8,  7:  "Doctrina  vero  simplicem  historicae  expositionis  ordinem 
pandit."  Cassianus  gives  as  an  illustration  Jerusalem:  which  in 
history  is  a  city  of  the  Jews;  by  tropology,  the  soul  of  man;  by 
allegory,  the  church  of  Christ;  and  by  anagoge,  the  heavenly  city 
of  God. 

2  Gregory  the  Great,  Dialogi,  i,  i,  in  P.  L.,  borvii,  col.  156  c. 

'  Saint  Benedict,  Regula,  48:  "  Idleness  is  the  enemy  of  the  soul," 
etc. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  35 

purity;  ^  that  all  might  receive  of  his  fruit,  and  that  he 
might  receive  from  all  a  portion  of  the  wages  of  eter- 
nity.2  But  God  alone,  who  knoweth  what  is  in  the 
darkness,^  looked  into  the  depths  of  his  heart  and  knew 
the  excellency  of  his  humility  and  charity:  by  which 
with  sagacious  soHcitude  he  had  won  the  leadership 
over  all  his  fellow  soldiers;  *  so  that  they  held  him 
equally  in  fear  and  love,  and  whom  they  had  as  fellow 
in  the  divine  love,  him  they  preferred  as  father  in  the 
mutual  honor  of  the  apostoUc  admonition.^  And  the 
greatness  of  his  kindness  towards  the  brethren  and 
of  his  heavenly  learning  so  increased,  that  the  report 
of  his  holy  exhortation  spread  abroad,  and  his  fame 
shone  very  brightly  among  the  monasteries,  those  of 
men  and  also  those  of  the  virgins  of  Christ.  Of  their 
inmates,  indeed,  great  numbers,  who  were  of  the 
stronger  sex,  flocked  together  unto  him,  impelled  by 
thirst  for  reading,  and  drank  of  the  most  healthful 
spring  of  knowledge,  and  surveyed  and  read  numerous 
volumes  of  the  Scriptures.  But  they  of  the  weaker 
sex,  who  could  not  come  continually,  kept  before  their 
minds  this  man  whose  vast  wisdom  was  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  divine  love;  and,  running  over  page  after 
page,  appHed  themselves  earnestly  to  the  investigation 
of  heavenly  things,  and  meditated  perpetually  upon 
the  secrets  of  the  sacraments  and  the  hidden  things  of 

1  I  Timothy,  iv,  12. 

2  Compare  Mark,  xii,  2;  John,  iv,  36. 
'  Daniel,  ii,  22. 

*  Commilitones.    Compare  Philippians,  ii,  25;  Philemon,  2. 

*  Romans,  xii,  10. 


36  WILLIBALD 

the  mysteries.  And  supernal  grace  so  sustained  him, 
that,  according  to  the  example  of  the  distinguished 
preacher  and  the  words  of  the  teacher  of  the  Gentiles, 
he  held  fast  the  form  of  sound  words,  in  the  faith  and 
love  of  Jesus  Christ;  ^  "  studying  to  show  himself  ap- 
proved unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,  rightly  handhng  the  word  of  truth."  ^ 

>  II  Timothy,  i,  13.  ^  /j^-^,^  ij^  15. 


CHAPTER  III 

That  he  proffered  the  Word  of  Instruction  to  all,  and 
that  he  dm  not  assume  the  office  of  instruction  of 
HIS  OWN  Will,  or  before  he  attained  the  Proper  Age 

We  will  turn  for  a  time  to  the  general  manner  of  the 
saint's  daily  contemplation  and  the  long  continued 
abstemiousness  of  his  frugality:  that,  mounting  higher 
and  higher,  we  may  more  readily  relate  concisely  and 
briefly  his  lofty  works,  and  follow  to  the  end  the  study 
of  his  venerable  hf e,  and  explore  it  more  precisely ;  and 
that  by  a  just  moderation  of  the  balance  Boniface  may 
become  an  example  for  us  of  eternity  and  a  manifest 
pattern  of  apostohc  learning.  Through  the  examples 
of  the  saints,  he  happily  ascended  the  steep  path  of 
heavenly  knowledge,  and,  going  on  before  the  people 
as  a  leader,  he  went  into  and  opened  the  gate  of  the 
Lord  our  God,  into  which  the  righteous  shall  enter. ^ 
And  from  his  childhood  even  to  decrepit  old  age,  he 
particularly  imitated  the  wisdom  of  the  departed 
fathers,  inasmuch  as  he  daily  and  continually  commit- 
ted to  memory  the  words  of  the  prophets  and  apostles, 
written  with  holy  pen,  and  the  glorious  passion  of  the 
martyrs,  put  in  writing,  and  also  the  gospel  teaching 
of  the  Lord  our  God;  and,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
whether  he  ate  or  drank,  or  whatsoever  he  did,^  he 

'  Psalms,  cxviii,  19,  20.  ■  I  Corinthians,  x,  31. 

37 


38  WILLIBALD 

always  rendered  unto  God  with  heart  and  voice  the 
commendation  of  praise  and  the  highest  degree  of  de- 
voted jubilation,  according  to  the  word  of  the  psalm- 
ist: "I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all  times:  his  praise 
shall  continually  be  in  my  mouth."  ^  For  to  such  an 
extent  was  he  inflamed  with  ardent  desire  for  the 
Scriptures,  that  often  he  applied  himself  with  every 
effort  to  imitating  them  and  Hstening  to  them;  and 
the  matters  which  were  written  for  the  instruction  of 
the  people,  he  paraphrased  and  preached  to  the  people 
with  wonderful  eloquence  of  speech  and  very  shrewdly 
added  parables.  He  had  such  a  right  proportion  of  dis- 
cretion, that  neither  was  the  energy  of  his  rebuke  lack- 
ing in  gentleness,  nor  the  gentleness  of  his  preaching  in 
energy;  but  as  the  zeal  of  energy  kindled  him,  so  the 
gentleness  of  love  made  him  mild.  Accordingly,  to  the 
rich  and  the  powerful  and  to  yeomen  and  slaves  he  em- 
ployed an  equal  discipline  of  holy  exhortation,  so  that 
neither  did  he  fawn  upon  the  rich  and  flatter  them,  nor 
did  he  oppress  slaves  or  yeomen  by  severity;  but,  in 
the  words  of  the  apostle,  he  was  made  all  things  to  all 
men,  that  he  might  gain  all.^  And  he  did  not  seize  the 
certificate  of  heavenly  instruction  of  his  own  will,  or 
before  the  time;  nor  did  he  usurp  it  by  stubbornness 
and  robbery;  but  in  the  progress  of  his  holy  humility, 
being  thirty  years  or  more  of  age,  and  supported  by  the 
choice  of  his  master  and  friends,  he  received  the  certif- 
icate ^  in  accordance  with  the  rule  of  the  canonical 

1  Psalms,  xxxiv,  i.  2  I  Corinthians,  ix,  22. 

^  The  ordination  as  priest,  with  the  tonsure. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  39 

constitution/  and,  enriched  by  divers  gifts  and  pres- 
ents, entered  upon  the  rank  of  the  priestly  office  in 
such  wise  that  he  was  wholly  devoted  in  will  and  act  to 
the  works  of  almsgiving  and  compassion,  so  far  as  he 
had  power  under  the  severity  of  the  rule  and  of  the 
monastic  life,  and  that  he  always  anticipated  the  hours 
of  the  nightly  vigils,  and  occupied  himself  diUgently  in 
the  toilsome  service  of  prayer.  Anger  did  not  steal 
away  his  patience,  nor  rage  shake  his  forbearance;  lust 
subdued  not  his  continence,  nor  did  gluttony  dishonor 
his  abstinence;  but  he  so  subdued  himself  to  every 
frugaUty  of  fasting,  that,  drinking  neither  wine  nor 
strong  drink,2  he  imitated  the  fathers  of  the  two  testa- 
ments, and  might  say,  with  the  distinguished  teacher 
of  the  Gentiles,  "  I  keep  under  my  body  and  bring  it 
into  subjection :  lest  that  by  any  means,  when  I  have 
preached  to  others,  I  myself  should  be  a  castaway."  ^ 

1  Forbidding  elevation  to  the  priesthood  before  the  age  of  thirty. 

2  Deuteronomy,  xxix,  6;  Judges,  xiii,  4,  7,  14;  Luke,  i,  15. 
^  I  Corinthians,  ix,  27. 


CHAPTER   IV 
That  he  was  sent  to  Kent  by  all  the  Nobles, 

AND  that  afterwards  HE  WENT  TO   FrISIA 

HAvmc  brought  together  above  some  scattered  ex- 
amples of  the  lofty  virtues  of  Saint  Boniface,  we  con- 
sider that  the  matters  which  follow,  relating  to  the 
persevering  strength  with  which  he  both  held  fast  to 
the  good  things  that  he  had  begun  and  also  urged  on 
and  quickly  hastened  his  soul  to  all  other  good  things, 
certainly  ought  not  to  be  passed  by  in  silence.  We 
have  learned  them  from  the  report  of  trusty  men,  and 
are  solicitous  to  set  them  down  in  the  clear  disclosure 
of  writing. 

For  a  long  time  he  tempered  his  mind  with  the  vir- 
tues enumerated  above,  and  advanced  from  day  to  day 
in  the  aforesaid  rank  of  the  priesthood  to  loftier  proofs 
of  good  things.  Then,  in  the  reign  of  Ine,  king  of  the 
West  Saxons,^  a  sudden  emergency  impended  upon  the 
rise  of  a  new  dissension;  and  immediately  the  chief 
men  of  the  churches,  with  the  advice  of  King  Ine,  sum- 
moned a  council  of  the  servants  of  God.  And  presently, 
when  all  were  assembled,  a  most  healthful  discussion 
concerning  this  recent  dissension  wisely  arose  among 
the  priestly  ranks  of  the  ecclesiastical  order.     And, 

1  688-725. 
40 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  41 

adopting  the  more  prudent  measure,  they  decided  to 
send  trusty  legates  in  the  Lord  to  the  archbishop  of  the 
city  of  Canterbury,  Bertwald  by  name:  ^  lest  it  should 
be  ascribed  to  their  presumption  or  temerity,  if  they 
did  anything  without  the  advice  of  the  archbishop. 
And  when  the  entire  senate  and  the  whole  order  of  the 
clergy  agreed  upon  and  adopted  this  prudent  measure, 
immediately  the  king  addressed  all  the  servants  of 
Christ,  asking  whom  they  would  charge  with  the  mes- 
sage of  this  embassy.  Then  unexpectedly  the  supreme 
abbot  in  Christ,  Winbert  by  name,  who  ruled  over  the 
monastery  of  Nhutscelle;  and  Wintra,  who  directed 
the  monastery  which  is  called  Tyssesburg;  ^  and  Beor- 
wald,  who  ruled  with  divine  governance  the  cloister 
which  is  called  by  a  name  of  the  ancients  ^  Glestinga- 
burg;  ■*  and  also  many  other  fathers  of  this  holy  way  of 
life  summoned  the  saint  and  led  him  before  the  king. 
And  the  king  charged  him  with  the  message  and  with 
knowledge  of  the  embassy,  gave  him  companions,  and 
sent  him  on  his  way  with  his  grace.  Charged  with  this 
message,  the  saint  after  a  prosperous  journey  came  to 
Kent  in  accordance  with  the  commands  of  the  elders, 
and  discreetly  declared  to  the  archbishop,  possessed  of 
the  fillet  ^  of  the  highest  priesthood,  everything  in  due 
sequence,  just  as  he  had  been  instructed  by  the  king. 

^  Archbishop  692-731.  *  The  old  Saxons. 

2  Tisbury.  *  Glastonbury. 

'  Infula:  a  classical  reminiscence  coming  down  to  Willibald 
through  Aldhelm  {De  Laudibus  Virginitatis,  33,  and  Epistola  ad 
Acircium:  pp.  40,  219  Giles)  and  Boniface  (£.,  33,  50,  91).  See  also 
Isidorus  Hispalensis,  Etymologiae,  xix,  30. 


42  WILLIBALD 

And  so,  having  received  a  willing  answer,  after  not 
many  days  he  returned  to  his  own  country,  and  wisely 
delivered  the  willing  answer,  of  the  venerable  arch- 
bishop to  King  Ine,  and  to  the  aforementioned  serv- 
ants of  God  in  the  king's  presence,  and  brought  great 
joy  to  all.  And  so  thenceforth,  by  the  wonderful  benev- 
olence of  the  dispensation  of  God,  his  name  was  so 
spread  abroad,  and  was  held  in  such  honor,  not  only 
among  all  lay  authorities  but  also  among  all  ranks  of 
the  ecclesiastical  service,  that  from  that  time  he  ad- 
vanced more  and  more,  and  very  often  took  part  in 
their  synodal  assembly. 

But  because  a  mind  consecrated  to  God  is  not  lifted 
up  by  the  favor  of  men  or  sustained  by  praise,  he 
began,  with  great  care  and  solicitude,  to  hasten  more 
intently  to  other  things,  and  to  shun  the  society  of  his 
relatives  and  connexions,  and  to  desire  foreign  places 
more  than  those  of  the  lands  of  his  paternal  inheritance. 
But  when  thus  for  a  long  space  of  time  he  had  most 
sagaciously  weighed  well  the  plan  of  leaving  country 
and  relatives,  at  length  he  took  occasion  to  consult 
Abbot  Winbert  of  blessed  memory,  and  openly  dis- 
closed to  him  all  the  secrets  of  his  soul,  hitherto  care- 
fully concealed  within  his  conscience,  and  with  most 
urgent  prayers  appealed  to  the  soul  of  the  sainted 
Winbert  to  consent  to  his  desire.  Winbert,  astounded 
at  first  with  great  wonder,  for  the  time  being  denied 
the  longed  for  journey  to  the  entreaties  and  prayers  of 
his  disciple,  that  he  might  stay  the  execution  of  the 
proposed  plan;    but  at  last,  through  the  prevailing 


THE  IJFE  OF  BONIFACE  43 

providence  of  almighty  God,  the  prayer  of  the  suppliant 
prevailed  also.  And  the  saint  began  the  chosen  journey, 
and,  by  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord  God,  completed  it, 
with  such  devoted  support  on  the  part  of  the  abbot  and 
of  his  brethren  who  lived  with  him  under  the  discipline 
of  the  rule,  that  they  willingly  provided  for  the  ex- 
penses and  comforts  that  are  necessary  to  human  Ufe, 
and,  greatly  moved  in  heart,  long  poured  out  in  his 
behalf  tears  and  prayers  and  supplications  to  the 
Lord. 

Much  strengthened  by  the  armor  of  the  spirit,  and 
liberally  supplied  ^  with  the  goods  of  this  world,  the 
saint  was  well  provided  with  the  pay  ^  of  either  life. 
Then,  accompanied  by  two  or  three  of  the  brethren, 
whose  bodily  and  spiritual  support  he  required,  he  set 
forth.  And  so,  having  traversed  immense  portions  of 
the  earth,  and  rejoicing  in  the  fortunate  companion- 
ship of  the  brethren,  he  came  to  a  place  where  there 
was  a  market  of  merchandise,  and  which  is  called  even 
unto  this  day  by  an  ancient  name  of  the  Angles  and 
Saxons,  Lundenwich.^  And  when  after  no  great  delay 
the  sailors  were  about  to  depart  on  their  return  home, 
the  new  passenger,  with  the  consent  of  the  shipmaster, 
diligently  went  on  board  ship,  and,  paying  the  fare, 
came  with  favorable  winds  to  Dorstet;  ■*  and,  tarrying 

1  Sublimatus :  literally,  '  raised  high.' 

2  Stipendiis:  as  a  military  term,  in  continuance  of  the  metaphor 
introduced  by '  armor  '  {armatura) . 

^  London.  In  the  Latin  of  the  period,  Londonia,  or  Lundonia. 
Bede,  Hisloria  Ecclesiaslica,  ii,  3. 

*  Now  Wijk  bij  Duurstede,  on  the  river  Lek,  about  twelve  miles 


44  WILLIBALD 

there  a  while,  paid  due  praise  to  the  Lord  God  day  and 
night. 

But  a  hostile  quarrel  which  arose,  on  the  occasion  of 
a  severe  attack  of  the  pagans,  between  Charles,  prince 
and  glorious  duke  of  the  Franks,  and  Radbod,  king  of 
the  Frisians,  threw  the  folk  of  either  side  into  confu- 
sion; ^  and  now  the  greatest  part  of  the  churches  of 
Christ,  which  formerly  in  Frisia  were  subject  to  the 
empire  of  the  Franks,  were  wasted  and  overthrown, 
while  Radbod  conducted  an  oppressive  persecution 
and  the  servants  of  God  were  driven  out.  Moreover, 
heathen  shrines  were  reared,  and,  sad  to  say,  the  wor- 
ship of  idols  was  restored.  Then  the  man  of  God,  per- 
ceiving the  wickedness  of  perverseness,  came  to  Trecht,^ 
and  waiting  there  some  days,  addressed  King  Radbod, 
who  came  thither:  that  by  compassing  and  viewing 
many  parts  of  those  lands,  he  might  diligently  inquire 
whether  in  the  future  an  opportunity  of  preaching 
would  be  anywhere  opened  to  him;  and  purposing  in 
his  soul  that  if  in  any  portion  of  this  folk  a  way  of  ap- 
proach for  the  gospel  should  ever  become  visible,  he 
would  minister  the  seed^  of  the  word  of  God.  And 
this,  after  the  passage  of  many  years,  the  glorious  evi- 
dence of  his  martyrdom  attested. 

southeast  of  Utrecht:  the  chief  emporium  of  the  surrounding  region 
until  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Danes  in  the  ninth  century. 

Adolf  Soetbeer  gives  some  valuable  notes  on  Dorstet  in  Forschungen 
zur  deutschen  Geschichte,  iv  (1864),  pp.  300-303. 

1  In  716. 

2  Utrecht  (the  Roman  UUratrajectum  or  Trajectum  ad  Rhenum). 
^  II  Corinthians,  ix,  10. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  45 

But  it  is  the  singular  property  of  the  holiness  of 
saints,  that  when  for  the  time  being  they  perceive  that 
their  labor  avails  nothing  because  there  is  no  greenness 
of  Hfe  in  the  spiritual  sprout,  they  remove  to  wholly 
different  places  that  are  prolific  ^  of  fruitful  labor :  ^ 
since  one  dwells  in  a  place  to  no  purpose,  if  the  fruit  of 
holiness  is  lacking.  Therefore  the  saint,  when  he  had 
dwelt  for  a  moderately  long  time  in  the  barren  land  of 
the  Frisians,  and  the  summer  and  some  small  part  of 
the  autumn  had  passed,  now  left  the  regions  that  were 
withered  by  the  lack  of  the  dew  of  celestial  fruitfulness, 
and,  taking  with  him  his  travelling  companions,  de- 
parted to  his  native  country.  Seeking  the  retirement 
of  his  monastery,  he  there,  received  by  the  love  of  the 
exulting  brethren,  spent  also  the  winter  of  the  second 
year,^  that  he  might  imitate  the  apostoHc  voice  of  the 
teacher  of  the  Gentiles,  saying:  "for  I  have  deter- 
mined there  to  winter."  * 

1  Reading  foecunda  with  the  best  manuscript,  Monacensis  1086. 
The  vulgate  reading  foecundo,  which  Levison  follows,  makes  no  sense. 

2  Gregory  the  Great,  Dialogi,  ii,  3,  in  P.  L.,  Ixvi,  col.  140. 

3  That  is,  two  winters  and  one  summer:  from  the  autumn  of  716  to 
the  spring  of  718. 

*  Titus,  iii,  12. 


CHAPTER  V 

How  AFTER  HIS  AbBOT  DIED  HE  TARRIED  A  LiTTLE  TiME  WITH 

THE  Brethren,  aito  afterward  came  to  Rome  with 
Letters  of  Introduction  from  his  Bishop 

Having  now  touched  briefly  and  in  part  upon  the  vir- 
tues of  the  saint,  we  shall  make  clearly  known  his  en- 
suing history,  just  as  we  have  ascertained  the  facts 
from  the  reports  of  newsmongers:  that  the  path  of  his 
hfe  and  character  may  be  forever  more  plainly  mani- 
fest to  those  who  direct  themselves  toward  the  pattern 
of  his  holy  conversation. 

When  he  had  passed  the  great  peril  of  the  journey 
and  escaped  unharmed  from  the  abysses  of  the  sea,  and 
on  his  return  had  betaken  himself  to  the  fellowship  of 
his  brethren  and  then  joined  their  company  for  many 
days,  at  length  heavy  sorrow  took  possession  of  his 
mind,  and  a  fresh  grief  oppressed  his  soul.  For  now  he 
saw  the  aged  Umbs  of  his  teacher  grow  weaker;  and  at 
last,  while  the  congregation  of  the  monks  stood  by, 
Winbert's  sickness  waxed  exceedingly,  and  amid  shak- 
ing and  trembHng  the  day  of  his  death  was  at  hand; 
and  finally  the  saint  saw  Winbert  lay  aside  the  prison 
of  the  body  and  breathe  his  last  breath,  while  the 
mourning  monks  looked  on  sadly.  Often  in  the  hearts 
of  saints  the  sympathetic  piety  of  compassion  shines 
with  special  brightness:  since  for  the  moment  they  are 

46 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  47 

wont  to  be  greatly  saddened,  but,  cleaving  to  the  pre- 
cept of  the  apostle,  they  receive  everlasting  consola- 
tion in  the  Lord.^ 

The  saint  now  kindly  addressed  the  brethren,  and, 
mindful  of  the  tradition  of  the  fathers,  urged  them  with 
spiritual  discourses  to  preserve  perpetually  and  in  all 
things  the  model  of  the  constitution  of  the  rule,  and  the 
pattern  of  ecclesiastical  prescription;  and  taught  that 
they  should  submit  themselves  to  the  government  of 
some  spiritual  father. ^  Then  all  with  one  mind  and  one 
voice  earnestly  demanded  that  all  should  implore  our 
saint,  who  at  that  time  was  called  Winfrid,  to  assume 
the  pastoral  office  of  abbot  over  them.  But  anon  the 
saint  contemned  his  country's  riches  and  abandoned 
the  primacy  of  government;  and,  being  now  ready  and 
prepared  to  fulfil  his  predetermined  purpose,  excused 
himself  with  sagacious  care,  and  declined  and  refused 
the  whole  inheritance. 

When  now  the  winter  time  had  passed  and  the 
warmth  of  summer  began  to  glow,  and  the  pristine  pur- 
pose of  the  gliding  year  was  renewed,  he  strove  with 
the  utmost  solicitude  to  renew  and  repeat  the  journey 
which  he  had  laid  aside.  Then,  taking  letters  of  in- 
troduction from  Daniel  of  blessed  memory ,3  watchman 
of  the  people^  of  God,  he  essayed  to  come  to  Rome,  to 

1  II  Corinthians,  i,  5;  II  Thessalonians,  ii,  16. 

2  Saint  Benedict,  Regida,  64. 

8  Bishop  of  Winchester  (705-745).  As  to  the  letters,  see  note 
below. 

*  Plebis.  See  DuCange,  Glossarium  Mediae  el  Infimae  Latinitatis, 
s.  V.    It  will  be  noted  that  the  word  had  a  wide  ecclesiastical  mean- 


48  WILLIBALD 

the  threshold  of  the  apostles.  Yet  for  a  while  he  was 
detained  by  the  need  of  the  remaining  brethren,  now 
fatherless;  and  in  such  wise  did  his  love  of  the  wailing 
monks  and  compassion  for  their  double  sorrow  oppose 
his  plan  for  the  moment,  that  he  was  oppressed  with 
great  mental  anguish,  and  knew  not  which  way  to  turn. 
For  he  feared,  on  the  one  hand,  lest,  if  he  departed,  the 
flock  which  had  been  committed  to  his  master,  and 
which  was  now  without  a  shepherd's  watchful  care, 
should  be  exposed  to  biting  wolves;  on  the  other,  that 
the  autumn  season  of  going  abroad  might  fail  him.  And 
when,  not  unmindful  of  his  piety,  almighty  God  with 
his  wonted  clemency  wished  to  deliver  from  anxious 
grief  his  servant,  who  was  perturbed  by  such  great  op- 
pression of  soul,  and  to  provide  a  pleasant  directorship 
for  the  flock,  presently  Bishop  Daniel  took  thought  for 
the  brethren,  and  set  over  this  church  a  man  of  good 
quality,  Stephen  by  name,  and  sent  our  saint,  who 
wished  to  go  upon  his  long  pilgrim  journey,  safe  to  his 
destination. 

Forthwith  the  saint  bade  farewell  to  the  breth- 
ren and  departed;  and  in  fulfilment  of  his  wish  went 
through  a  great  extent  of  country  to  the  place  which 
now,  as  we  have  said  above,  is  called  by  the  name  Lun- 
denwich.  And  swiftly  mounting  the  side  of  a  swift 
ship,  he  began  to  try  the  unknown  paths  of  the  seas; 
the  sailors  danced ;  the  huge  sails  rose  to  the  breath  of 
the  northwest  wind,  and  with  a  stiff  breeze  and  a 

ing.  Possibly  some  might  here  prefer  the  rendering  '  diocese '  or 
'  parish.' 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  49 

lucky  voyage  they  quickly  sighted  the  mouth  of  the 
river  which  is  called  Cuent,^  and  were  now  safe  from 
all  danger  of  shipwreck.  They  came  safe  to  dry  land ; 
but  they  pitched  camp  in  Cuentawich,^  until  the  re- 
maining multitude  of  the  company  should  have 
gathered  together. 

When  all  were  collected,  while  each  day  the  cold  of 
winter  threatened,  they  set  forth;  and  they  went  to 
many  churches  of  the  saints,  and  prayed  that  by  the 
help  of  God's  throne  they  might  surmount  the  snowy 
Alpine  heights  more  safely,  and  experience  greater 
kindness  at  the  hands  of  the  Lombards,  and  escape 
more  easily  from  the  malicious  ferocity  of  the  haughty 
soldiers.^  And  when  by  the  suffrage  of  the  patronage 
of  the  saints  and  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord  God  the 
whole  band  of  companions  that  clave  to  the  retinue  of 
our  saint  prosperously  approached  the  threshold  of 
Saint  Peter  the  apostle,  immediately  they  returned  un- 
measured thanks  to  Christ  for  their  safety.  And 
having  entered  with  great  joy  the  church  of  Saint  Peter 
chief  of  the  apostles,  most  of  them  brought  divers 
gifts,  asking  the  annulment  of  their  sins. 

Now  when  not  many  days  had  passed,  the  saint 
spoke  to  the  venerable  pope  of  the  apostolic  see,  Greg- 
ory of  blessed  memory,  second  from  the  first  and 
prior  to  the  latest  of  that  name,  who  in  the  common 

^  The  Canche,  a  small  stream  a  few  miles  south  of  Boulogne. 

2  Probably  not  far  from  Staples. 

3  The  milites  or  Byzantine  troops  that  garrisoned  the  Exarchate  of 
Ravenna.  Paul  Roth,  Geschichte  des  Beneficialwesens  (Erlangen, 
1850),  pp.  2Q4  f.     So  also  below,  p.  58. 


50  WILLIBALD 

speech  of  the  Romans  is  also  called  the  Younger/  and 
discovered  to  him  in  order  the  whole  occasion  of  his 
journey  and  visit,  and  explained  the  nature  of  the 
ardent  desire  for  which  he  had  labored  long  and  hard 
and  anxiously.  The  holy  pope,  suddenly  looking  to- 
ward him  with  cheerful  countenance  and  laughing  eyes, 
inquired  whether  he  had  brought  letters  of  introduc- 
tion from  his  bishop.^  The  saint,  aroused,  threw  off 
his  cloak,  and  produced  a  note  folded  conformably  to 
custom  ^  and  a  letter,  and  gave  them  to  the  admirable 
man  of  holy  memory:  who  took  the  letter,  and  at 
once  signed  to  the  saint  to  withdraw.  The  apostolic 
pope  perused  the  letter  and  examined  the  note  of  intro- 
duction, and  thereafter  had  busy  daily  conference  and 
debate  with  the  saint,  until  the  summer  season  for  set- 
ting forth  on  the  return  was  at  hand.    But  when  the 

1  Gregory  II  (715-731)- 

^  The  importance  attached  to  such  letters  is  well  indicated  by  a 
passage  in  a  letter  of  Pope  Symmachus  to  Bishop  Caesarius  of  Aries, 
dated  11  June  514:  "  Et  in  hac  parte  magnopere  te  volumus  esse  sol- 
licitum,  ut,  si  quern  de  Gallicana  vel  de  Hispania  regionibus  ecclesi- 
astici  ordinis  adque  officii  [necessitas]  ad  nos  venire  conpulerit,  cum 
fraternitatis  tuae  notitiam  iter  peregrinationis  arripiat,  ut  nee  honor 
ejus  per  ignorantiam  aliquam  contumiliam  patiatur,  et,  ambiguitate 
depulsa,  a  nobis  animo  securo  in  communionis  gratiam  possit  admitti." 
M.G.H.,  Epistolae  Merowingici  et  Karolini  Aevi,  i  (Berolini,  1892), 
pp.  41  f. 

'  Carta  ex  more  involuta.  Presumably  a  formal  ecclesiastical  note 
of  introduction  (epistola  formala),  authenticated  by  a  numerical  key 
known  only  to  the  initiated.  There  are  good  examples  of  the  epistola 
formata  in  M.  G.  H.,  Leges,  sect,  v,  pp.  557-568,  and  a  brief  discussion 
in  Arthur  Giry's  Manuel  de  Diplomatique  (Paris,  1894),  p.  811.  In 
addition  to  this,  as  is  indicated,  the  saint  carried  an  open  letter  of 
introduction,  presumably  the  one  preserved  and  printed,  E.,  11. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  51 

month  Nisan,  which  is  April,  went  by,  and  already  the 
gates  of  Jar,  or  May,i  were  opened,  then,  having  asked 
and  received  the  benediction  of  the  apostolic  see  and  a 
letter,^  the  saint  was  sent  by  the  most  blessed  pope  to 
inspect  the  savage  peoples  of  Germany:  that  he 
might  consider  whether  the  uncultivated  fields  of  their 
hearts,  if  tilled  by  the  gospel  ploughshare,  would  be 
disposed  to  receive  the  seed  of  preaching. 

fAnd  so,  having  collected  a  great  multitude  of  relics, 
he  retraced  his  journey  in  company  with  his  fellow 
servants,  and  approached  the  bounds  of  Italy;  ^  and 
waited  upon  Liutprand,  most  excellent  king  of  the 
Lombards,*  with  pacific  gifts,  and  addressed  him. 
Being  honorably  received  by  Liutprand,  he  reposed 
his  limbs,  wearied  from  the  journey;  and  thus  recom- 
pensed, he  traversed  hills  and  plains,  and  passed  over 
the  precipitous  ridges  of  the  Alps. 

Approaching  the  unknown  boundaries  of  the  Ba- 
varians and  the  contiguous  limits  of  Germany,^  he  pro- 
ceeded into  Thuringia  on  his  journey  of  inspection,  in 
accordance  with  the  command  of  the  apostoHc  see: 
manifestly  after  the  fashion  of  the  most  prudent  bee, 
which  flies  around  the  fields  and  meadows  in  its  pecu- 
liar way,  and,  gently  whirring  its  feathery  wings,  goes 
among  the  vast  numbers  of  odorous  herbs;  and  proves 

^  Bede,  De  Temporum  Rat  tone,  11. 
2  E.,  12.    Dated  15  May  719. 
'  In  the  sense  of  Upper  Italy  or  Langobardia. 
*  712-744. 

^  In  the  narrower  sense  of  the  territory  east  of  the  Rhine  and  north 
of  the  Danube.     So  E.,  45. 


52  WILLIE  ALD 

with  its  gathering  mouth  where  the  honey-flowing 
sweetness  of  nectar  is  hidden,  and,  utterly  disdaining 
all  bitter  and  deadly  sap,  bears  the  sweetness  to  the 
hives;  and,  to  illustrate  by  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
proves  all  things,  and  holds  fast  that  which  is  good.^ 
So  in  Thuringia  the  saint,  in  accordance  with  the  com- 
mand laid  upon  him  by  the  apostolic  bishop,  addressed 
with  spiritual  words  the  elders  of  the  church  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  whole  people,  and  summoned  them  to  the 
true  way  of  knowledge  and  the  light  of  understanding, 
which  before,  seduced  by  perverse  teachers,  they  had 
for  the  most  part  lost.  But  the  priests  and  elders  — 
of  whom  some  devoted  themselves  to  the  pious  wor- 
ship of  almighty  God,  while  others,^  contaminated  and 
polluted  by  unchastity,  had  lost  the  chaste  continence 
which  those  who  serve  the  sacred  altars  ought  to  keep 
—  he  corrected,  warned,  and  taught  to  the  best  of  his 
ability  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  turning  them 
from  the  perverseness  of  malice  to  the  rectitude  of  the 
canonical  constitution. 

Next  he  entered  Francia  in  company  with  the 
brethren.  Being  informed  of  the  death  of  Radbod,^ 
king  of  the  Frisians,  he  rejoiced  with  great  joy ,4  and, 
desiring  that  Frisia  also  might  receive  the  word  of  God, 

1  I  Thessalonians,  v,  21. 

2  Married  priests. 
^  In  719. 

*  So  Bugga  wrote  to  Boniface  with  reference  to  Radbod's  death, 
"  I  return  thanks  without  ceasing  to  ahnighty  God,  because  ...  he 
hath  cast  down  before  thee  Radbod,  the  enemy  of  the  Catholic 
church."   E.,  15. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  53 

immediately  went  up  the  river  ^  by  ship,  and  reached 
lands  uncultivated  by  the  heavenly  preaching.    And 
now  that  fierce  King  Radbod's  persecution  was  at  an 
end,  the  saint  provided  the  seed  of  the  celestial  doc- 
trine, and,  satisfying  the  hunger  for  the  word  of  God, 
refreshed  the  multitude,  famished  by  pagan  supersti- 
tion, with  the  food  of  the  preaching  of  eternity.    And 
when  speedily  the  spontaneous  accomplishment  of  the 
work  followed  his  heart's  desire,  and  the  longed  for 
light  of  the  predestined  doctrine  began  to  shine  by  the 
ordinance  of  the  Lord  God,  and  the  sovereignty  of 
glorious  Duke  Charles  over  the  Frisians  was  strength- 
ened, now  the  war  trumpet  of  the  heavenly  word 
sounded,  and  the  voice  of  the  preachers  thundered 
with  the  coming  of  heaven's  fertilizing  dew,  while  the 
word  of  God  was  propagated  by  the  venerable  Willi- 
brord  ^  and  his  fellow  workers.    But  because  he  saw 
that  the  harvest  truly  was  plenteous,  but  the  laborers 
were  few,^  our  holy  servant  of  God  also  became  a  fel- 
low worker  of  Archbishop  Willibrord  for  three  years 
uninterruptedly,''  and,  laboring  much  in  Christ,^  de- 
stroyed temples  and  sanctuaries  and  built  churches 
and  oratories;  and,  helped  by  Willibrord,  brought  no 
small  people  unto  the  Lord. 

But  when  Archbishop  Willibrord  had  grown  old  and 
was  burdened  with  the  weight  of  many  years,  he  deter- 
mined, partly  at  the  suggestion  of  the  company  of  dis- 

1  The  Rhine.    The  voyage  must  have  been  rather  down  the  river. 

2  Bom  in  657-58.  ■*  719-22. 

3  Matthew,  ix,  37.  5  Romans,  xvi,  12. 


54  WILLIBALD 

ciples,  to  provide  for  his  decrepit  old  age  a  relief  in  his 
great  ministry,  and  to  choose  a  faithful  man  from  the 
small  congregation  who  would  be  able  to  rule  so  great 
a  folk.  Having  summoned  our  servant  of  God,  he 
urged  him,  with  wholesome  instruction,  to  undertake 
the  episcopal  command  and  rank,  and  to  assist  him  to 
rule  God's  people.  The  saint  in  his  humihty  hastily 
refused,  answering  that  he  was  not  worthy  of  the  rank 
of  bishop;  and  prayed  that  so  great  and  high  a  dignity 
might  not  be  imposed  upon  him  while  he  was  still 
reckoned  a  youth  in  years;  and  averred  that  he  had 
not  yet  attained  the  age  of  fifty  years  required  by  the 
standard  of  the  canon  law:  ^  in  order  that  by  every 
denial  and  excuse  he  might  utterly  avoid  this  exalted 
rank.  Therefore  Archbishop  WilHbrord  of  holy  fame 
reproved  him  with  mild  words,  dihgently  urging  him 
to  accept  the  proffered  rank,  and  particularly  premis- 
ing the  extreme  indigence  of  the  subject  folk.  But 
when  not  even  WilHbrord's  reproof  moved  the  saint  to 
consent  to  undertake  this  exalted  rank,  then  through 
long  delays  and  evasions  a  spiritual  strife  arose  be- 
tween them,  and  there  was  a  harmonious  discord  of 
glorious  dispute.  The  saint,  on  the  one  hand,  pre- 
vented from  accepting  by  his  sublime  humihty,  refused 
the  highly  honorable  rank;  WilUbrord,  on  the  other, 
ensnared  by  his  passionate  longing  for  most  pious  gain, 
coveted  the  salvation  of  souls.  After  they  had  thus 
alternately  advanced  opposing  arguments,  our  holy 

1  Gregory  the  Great,  Dialogi,  ii,  2;   and  other  passages  cited  by 
Levison  in  his  note. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  55 

servant  of  God,  as  if  set  in  a  kind  of  spiritual  race/ 
brought  forward  a  wholly  acceptable  excuse,  saying: 

"  Most  holy  bishop!  Pilot  of  the  struggle  of  the 
spirit !  ^  I  brought  to  the  nations  of  Germany  the 
charge  of  blessed  Pope  Gregory  of  holy  memory.^  I, 
ambassador  of  the  apostoHc  see  to  the  western  lands  of 
the  barbarians,  voluntarily  attached  myself  to  thy 
lordship  and  governance;  and  I  did  this  from  the 
choice  of  my  own  free  will,  without  the  knowledge  of 
my  sublime  masters,  to  whose  service  I  am  bound  and 
subject  by  my  vow  even  unto  this  day.  Wherefore 
without  the  decree  of  the  apostoHc  see,  and  without  its 
commission  and  authentic  command,  I  dare  not  under- 
take a  rank  so  distinguished  and  sublime." 

Moreover,  he  added  a  reasonable  prayer  and  request, 
saying:  "  I  beseech  therefore,  that  thou  elect  to  send 
me,  who  am  bound  by  the  fetters  of  my  own  solemn 
promise,  back  to  these  lands  to  which  at  first  I  was 
sent  by  the  apostolic  see." 

Willibrord,  the  man  of  God,  when  he  learned  the 
occasion  of  the  saint's  great  promise,  bestowed  upon 
him  a  benediction,  and  immediately  gave  him  liberty 
to   go    away.      The    saint,    departing    straightway,^ 

1  I  Corinthians,  ix,  24. 

2  I  Corinthians,  ix,  25;  II  Timothy,  ii,  5;  iv,  7,  8;  Saint  Augus- 
tine, De  A  gone  Christiano. 

^  The  mediaeval  practice  permitted  the  use  of  this  phrase  as  a  term 
of  honor  for  the  living  as  well  as  for  the  dead.  G.  D.  Hofmann,  Ver- 
mischte  Beobachlungen  aus  der  deutschen  StaatsgeschicUe  und  Rechlen 
(Ulm,  1760-64),  ii,  p.  67. 

*  Probably  to  this  journey  may  be  assigned  the  beginning  of  the 
discipleship  of  the  noble  Frankish  youth  Gregory.     Liudger,  Vita 


56  WILLIBALD 

reached  a  place  named  Amanaburch:  ^  in  the  language 
of  the  apostle,  "  nourished  up  in  the  words  of  faith  and 
of  good  doctrine,  whereunto  "  he  "  attained."  ^ 

Gregorii  Abbatis,  2,  in  M.  G.  H.,  Scriptores,  xv,  i,  pp.  67  f.  The  story 
is  finely  paraplirased  by  Selwyn  in  his  poem,  pp.  13-15. 

^  Amoneburg  in  Hesse-Nassau,  on  the  river  Ohm  (Amona) :  about 
seven  miles  east  of  Marburg. 

2  I  Timothy,  iv,  6. 


CHAPTER  VI 

We  have  narrated  briefly,  proceeding  from  the  be- 
ginning step  by  step,  the  proofs  of  our  saint's  virtue, 
and  the  perseverance  of  his  labor  in  the  Lord :  that  we 
may  recall  to  memory  more  minutely  and  in  mass  the 
succeeding  examples  of  his  excellence. 

When  he  had  brought  unto  the  Lord  a  vast  people 
among  the  Frisians,  and  many,  educated  by  him  in 
spiritual  learning,  had  come  to  knowledge  of  the  truth 
in  the  beaming  rays  of  the  true  light;  then  indeed,  pro- 
tected by  the  Lord,  he  went  to  other  parts  of  Germany 
for  the  sake  of  preaching,  and,  with  the  Lord's  help, 
came  to  Amanaburch.  There  twin  brothers  ruled, 
Dettic  namely  and  Deorulf.  The  saint  summoned 
them  from  the  sacrilegious  worship  of  idols,  which  they 
wrongfully  practised  under  a  kind  of  name  of  Chris- 
tianity; and  withdrew  a  very  great  multitude  of 
people  from  the  malevolent  superstition  of  heathenism, 
having  disclosed  to  them  the  way  of  right  understand- 
ing, and  caused  them  to  put  aside  their  horrible  errors; 
and,  having  gathered  a  congregation  of  God's  servants, 
built  a  cell  for  a  monastery.  And  in  like  wise,  near  to 
the  borders  of  the  Saxons,  by  preaching  the  gospel  in- 
junctions he  set  free  from  the  captivity  of  devils  the 
people  of  the  Hessians,  who  yet  wandered  in  pagan 
rites. 

57 


58  WILLIBALD 

When  he  had  cleansed  many  thousand  people  from 
their  inveterate  paganism  and  given  them  baptism,  he 
directed  to  Rome  a  fit  messenger,  a  faithful  bearer  of 
his  letter,  Bynna  by  name;  and  by  the  service  of  the 
voiceless  word  disclosed  in  order  to  the  venerable 
father,  the  bishop  of  the  apostolic  see,  all  the  things 
which  by  God's  gift  had  been  brought  to  pass  in  him; 
and  showed  how  a  great  multitude  of  people,  illumi- 
nated by  the  divine  spirit,  had  received  the  sacrament 
of  regeneration.  But  also,  writing  further,  he  asked 
concerning  things  which  pertained  to  the  daily  need  of 
the  church  of  God  and  the  progress  of  the  people:  that 
he  might  obtain  the  counsel  of  the  apostolic  see.  When 
Bynna  the  messenger  had  remained  at  Rome  for  some 
days,  and  the  time  of  his  return  was  already  at  hand, 
he  received  in  exchange  from  the  bishop  of  the  apos- 
tolic see  an  answer  to  his  embassy.  And  imme- 
diately returning,  he  now  brought  to  his  master,  after 
the  passage  of  no  long  time,  a  letter  written  by  the 
apostoHc  see. 

When  the  saint  had  read  the  letter  that  was  brought, 
he  gathered  that  he  was  invited  to  Rome,  and  sought 
in  haste  to  fulfil  the  highest  degree  of  obedience.  With- 
out delay,  attended  by  a  throng  of  clients  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  train  of  the  brethren,  he  traversed  the 
lands  of  the  Franks  and  the  Burgundians,  and,  having 
surmounted  the  ridges  of  the  Alps,  the  territories  of  the 
marches  of  Italy  ^  and  the  boundaries  of  the  soldiers.^ 
And  when  he  beheld  the  walls  of  the  Roman  city, 
1  See  above,  p.  51,  n.  3.  *  See  p.  49,  n.  3. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  59 

quickly  he  returned  deserved  praise  and  thanks  to 
God  on  high;  and  presently,  reaching  the  church  of 
Saint  Peter,  he  fortified  himself  by  diligent  prayer. 
But  when  he  had  rested  his  wearied  Umbs  for  a  little 
time,  it  was  announced  to  the  blessed  Gregory,  bishop 
of  the  apostolic  see,  that  our  servant  of  God  had 
arrived.  And  he  was  received  kindly  and  conducted 
to  the  pilgrims'  lodge. 

When  a  suitable  day  for  their  conference  arrived, 
and  the  glorious  bishop  of  the  apostolic  see  came  to 
the  church  of  Saint  Peter  the  apostle,  immediately  our 
servant  of  God  was  summoned.  After  they  had  ex- 
changed a  few  peaceful  words  of  salutation,  the  apos- 
tolic bishop  questioned  him  concerning  the  creed  and 
the  tradition  of  the  faith  of  the  church.  Anon  our  man 
of  God  answered  him  humbly,  saying:  "Apostolic 
lord!  I,  stranger  as  I  am,  know  that  I  have  no  skill  in 
your  familiar  language;  but  I  beg  that  thou  grant  me 
leisure  and  time  to  write  down  my  confession  of  faith, 
and  that  only  the  voiceless  word  may  make  a  reason- 
able presentation  of  my  faith."  The  bishop  at  once 
consented,  and  commanded  him  to  bring  this  writing 
speedily.  And  after  some  space  of  time  had  glided 
away,  the  saint  brought  his  confession  of  faith  in  the 
Holy  Trinity,  written  down  in  polished,  eloquent,  and 
learned  language,  and  rendered  it  to  the  aforesaid 
bishop.    Nevertheless  he  waited  yet  some  days. 

At  last  he  was  summoned  again.  Having  been  con- 
ducted within  the  Lateran,  immediately  he  cast  him- 
self humbly  prostrate  on  his  face  at  the  feet  of  the 


6o  WILLIBALD 

apostolic  bishop,   beseeching  his  benediction:    who 
quickly  raised  him  from  the  ground,  and  returned  to 
our  servant  of  God  the  writing  in  which  the  sound  and 
incorrupt  truth  of  faith  was  manifest,  and  made  him 
sit  by  his  side.    And  he  instructed  him,  with  whole- 
some teaching  and  admonition,  to  preserve  ceaselessly 
inviolate   this  bulwark   of   faith,   and   to  preach   it 
earnestly  unto  others  to  the  limit  of  his  strength.    And 
he  brought  forward  many  other  matters  relating  to  the 
holy  religion  and  the  true  faith  and  questioned  the 
samt  concerning  them,  so  that  they  spent  almost  the 
whole  day  in  mutual  conversation.    And  at  last  the 
pope  inquired  how  the  peoples  who  before  had  wan- 
dered in  error  and  crime  received  the  lessons  of  the 
faith  through  his  teaching.    And  when  he  had  learned 
for  a  certainty  that  the  saint  had  admitted  an  exceed- 
ing great  multitude   of   the   commonalty  from   the 
sacrilegious  worship  of  devils  to  the  fellowship  of  the 
holy  church,  he  intimated  to  him  that  he  had  purposed 
to  impose  upon  him  the  office  of  bishop,  and  to  set  him 
over  the  peoples  that  before  had  lacked  a  shepherd's 
care,  and  in  the  words  of  the  Lord  our  God,  fainted, 
as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.^    But  the  saint,  because 
he  dared  not  contradict  this  great  bishop  set  over  the 
apostohc  see,   consented  and  obeyed.     And  so  the 
most  high  bishop  of  holy  authority  appointed  a  day 
of  ordination,  namely  the  thirtieth  of  November.^ 

After  the  sacred  day  of  the  holy  solemnity  had 
dawned,  being  the  natal  day  of  Saint  Andrew  and  the 

1  Matthew,  ix,  36.  2  722. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  6i 

day  set  for  the  ordination,  the  holy  bishop  of  the  apos- 
tolic see  imposed  upon  the  saint  the  dignity  of  the 
episcopacy  and  of  the  name  Boniface;  ^  and  brought 
him  the  book  in  which  the  most  sacred  laws  of  the 
constitution  of  the  church  have  been  compiled  at  the 
assemblies  of  the  bishops;  -  commanding,  that  thence- 
forth this  order  of  episcopal  discipline  and  customs 
should  remain  unshaken  in  his  hands,^  and  that  the 

'  An  error,  as  is  shown  by  the  occurrence  of  the  name  in  several 
letters  written  between  yig  and  722.  E.,  12,  14,  15.  Probably  Greg- 
ory conferred  the  Latin  name  upon  Winfrid  on  the  occasion  of  his 
first  visit  to  Rome  in  719. 

2  That  is,  a  manual  of  the  canon  law:  very  probably  that  of  Diony- 
sius.    Rettberg,  Kirchengeschichle  Deidschlands ,  i,  p.  406. 

'  The  ordination  oath  of  Boniface  is  preserved.  E.,  16.  "  I,  Boni- 
face, bishop  by  the  grace  of  God,  promise  thee.  Saint  Peter  prince  of 
the  apostles,  and  thy  vicar,  blessed  Pope  Gregory,  and  his  successors, 
by  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  Trinity  inseparable, 
and  by  this  thy  most  sacred  body,  to  exhibit  all  faith  and  purity  of  the 
holy  Catholic  faith,  and,  with  God's  aid,  to  abide  in  the  unity  of  the 
same  faith,  in  which  assuredly  all  the  salvation  of  Christians  is  at- 
tested; in  no  wise  at  any  one's  persuasion  to  enter  into  agreement 
against  the  unity  of  the  common  and  universal  church;  but,  as  I  have 
said,  to  exhibit  in  all  matters  my  faith  and  purity  and  union  to  thee 
and  to  the  profit  of  thy  church,  to  which  the  Lord  God  hath  given 
power  to  bind  and  loose,  and  to  thy  vicar  aforesaid  and  his  successors; 
and  also  I  promise  that  if  I  shall  have  knowledge  of  bishops  living 
contrary  to  the  ancient  institutions  of  the  holy  fathers,  I  will  have  no 
communion  or  intercourse  with  them.  Nay  more,  if  I  shall  have 
power  to  forbid  them,  I  wiU  forbid;  if  not,  I  will  straightway  make 
faithful  report  to  my  apostolic  lord.  But  if,  as  I  pray  may  not  be  the 
case,  I  shall  attempt  in  any  wise  or  spirit  or  on  any  occasion  to  do  any- 
thing contrary  to  the  tenor  of  this  my  promise,  may  I  be  condemned 
at  the  eternal  judgment,  and  incur  the  punishment  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira,  who  presumed  to  practise  deceit  and  to  lie  unto  thee  even 
concerning  their  own  property." 


3 


62  WILLIBALD 

subject  peoples  should  be  instructed  by  these  examples. 
But  also  he  gave  to  him  and  to  all  subject  to  him  the 
friendship  of  the  holy  apostolic  see  thenceforth  for- 
ever.^ And  by  his  most  sacred  letter  he  placed  our 
saint,  now  a  bishop,  under  the  protection  and  pious 
care  of  the  sovereignty  of  glorious  Duke  Charles.^ 

After  Boniface  by  long  and  devious  ways  had  visited 
the  territories  of  great  peoples,  he  came  to  the  aforesaid 
prince  of  the  Franks,  and  was  received  by  him  with 
veneration.  He  delivered  to  Duke  Charles  the  letters 
of  the  abovementioned  Roman  bishop  and  of  the  apos- 
tolic see,  and,  subject  to  his  lordship  and  patronage, 
returned,  with  the  consent  of  Duke  Charles,  to  the 
land  of  the  Hessians  where  before  he  had  tarried. 

Now  at  that  time  many  of  the  Hessians,  brought 
under  the  Catholic  faith  and  confirmed  by  the  grace 
of  the  sevenfold  spirit,-*  received  the  laying  on  of  hands; 

This  is  in  substance  the  oath  taken  by  the  Italian  bishops  of  the 
time  who  were  immediately  subject  to  the  see  of  Rome  {episcopi 
suburbicarii) ,  except  for  the  omission  of  the  promise  of  allegiance  to 
the  Empire  and  Emperor. 

1  This  special  relationship  of  friendship  or  brotherhood  between  the 
Roman  see  on  the  one  hand,  and  Boniface  and  his  household  on  the 
other,  was  renewed  at  the  accession  of  Gregory  III  in  731.  See  p.  67, 
below.  Mention  of  it  is  also  made  of  it  by  Boniface,  E.,  86,  108,  in 
letters  to  Zacharias  and  Stephen  III. 

2  E.,  20.  There  also  remain  general  letters  of  commendation  given 
by  Gregory  to  Boniface  under  date  of  i  December  722,  addressed 
Universis  Christianis  and  Clero,  ordini,  ei  plebi;  another  Thuringis 
Christianis  which  doubtless  pertains  to  this  time,  and  another  Universo 
populo  provinciae  AUsaxomim  which  may  so  belong.   Ibid.,  17-19,  21. 

'  The  letter  of  protection  issued  by  Charles  is  £.,  22. 

*  Isaiah,  xi,  2;    Isidorus  Hispalensis,  Etymologiae,  vii,  3;    Saint 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  63 

others  indeed,  not  yet  strengthened  in  soul,  refused  to 
accept  in  their  entirety  the  lessons  of  the  inviolate  faith. 
Moreover  some  were  wont  secretly,  some  openly  to 
sacrifice  to  trees  and  springs;  some  in  secret,  others 
openly  practised  inspections  of  victims  and  divina- 
tions, legerdemain  and  incantations;  some  turned 
their  attention  to  auguries  and  auspices  and  various 
sacrificial  rites;  ^  while  others,  with  sounder  minds, 
abandoned  all  the  profanations  of  heathenism,  and 
committed  none  of  these  things.  With  the  advice  and 
counsel  of  these  last,  the  saint  attempted,  in  the  place 
called  Gaesmere,^  while  the  servants  of  God  stood  by 
his  side,  to  fell  ^  a  certain  oak  of  extraordinary  size, 
which  is  called,  by  an  old  name  of  the  pagans,  the  Oak 
of  Jupiter.'*  And  when  in  the  strength  of  his  steadfast 
heart  he  had  cut  the  lower  notch,^  there  was  present  a 
great  multitude  of  pagans,^  who  in  their  souls  were 
most  earnestly  cursing  the  enemy  of  their  gods.    But 

Augustine,  De  Sermone  Domini,  i,  4;  J.  F.  Bohmer,  Regesta  Impern, 
i,  I  (3d  ed.,  by  Engelbert  Miihlbacher,  Innsbruck,  1899),  p.  38, 
no.  76a. 

'  E.,  43. 

2  The  location  is  uncertain.  There  are  in  Hesse  several  places 
named  Geismar. 

^  Succidere. 

*  The  Latin  rendering  of  the  Teutonic  Thor. 

^  Cum  arborem  succidisset.  Of  the  first  or  lower  notch,  cut  to  the 
centre  of  the  tree  from  the  side  toward  which  it  was  intended  that  the 
tree  should  fall. 

8  As  Otioh  puts  it,  "  Ad  .  .  .  arboris  incisionem  magna  pagano- 
rum  multitude  concurrit  ":  assembled  no  doubt  from  the  farms  and 
villages  for  miles  around,  while  the  axe  was  making  its  slow  progress 
through  the  tough  wood. 


64  WILLIBALD 

when  the  fore  side  of  the  tree  was  notched  only  a  little/ 
suddenly  the  oak's  vast  bulk,  driven  by  a  divine  blast 
from  above,  crashed  to  the  ground,  shivering  its  crown 
of  branches  as  it  fell;  and,  as  if  by  the  gracious  dis- 
pensation of  the  Most  High,  it  was  also  burst  into  four 
parts,  and  four  trunks  of  huge  size,  equal  in  length, 
were  seen,  unwrought  by  the  brethren  who  stood  by. 
At  this  sight  the  pagans  who  before  had  cursed  now, 
on  the  contrary,  believed,  and  blessed  the  Lord,  and 
put  away  their  former  reviling.  Then  moreover  the 
most  holy  bishop,  after  taking  counsel  with  the  breth- 
ren, built  from  the  timber  of  the  tree  a  wooden  oratory, 
and  dedicated  it  in  honor  of  Saint  Peter  the  apostle. 

When  by  the  favor  of  God's  will  all  that  we  have 
told  was  fulfilled  and  accomplished,  the  saint  went  on 
to  Thuringia.     And  he  addressed  the  elders  of  the 

'  Ad  modicum  quidem  arbor e  praeciso.  Of  the  second,  upper,  or 
fore  notch,  on  the  side  which  axeman  and  spectators  faced  as  the  tree 
fell  in  the  opposite  direction. 

This  passage  has  been  an  inveterate  stumbling-block  to  interpret- 
ers. From  Otloh  to  Amdt,  all  have  given  renderings  equally  unsatis- 
factory, perhaps  because  they  lacked  the  practical  acquaintance  with 
the  woodman's  craft  which  we  may  assume  in  Boniface  and  Willibald 
as  Saxons  of  the  eighth  century.  If  we  take  succidisset  and  praeciso  as 
technical  terms  of  woodcraft,  as  I  have  done,  and  if  we  suppose  that 
the  oak  was  to  some  extent  hollow,  WilUbald's  account  becomes  in  all 
important  respects  consistent  and  credible. 

It  may  be  objected  to  this  interpretation,  that  it  requires  us  to  take 
succidisset  as  used  in  a  different  sense  from  succidere  in  the  preceding 
sentence.  This  does  not  seem  a  serious  objection:  Otloh,  Bonnell, 
Kulb,  and  Arndt,  to  name  no  others,  have  recognized  the  existence  of 
the  difference,  though  none  of  them  has  chanced  to  hit  upon  the  same 
rendering  for  succidisset. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  65 

church  and  the  chiefs  of  the  people,  and  summoned 
them  to  forsake  their  blind  ignorance  and  to  return  to 
the  Christian  religion  which  they  had  before  accepted. 
For  the  sovereignty  of  their  kings  ^  came  to  an  end; 
and  under  the  perilous  leadership  of  Theotbald  and 
Heden,  whose  disastrous  and  dangerous  sway  over 
them  rested  rather  on  tyranny  and  devastation  than 
on  loyalty,  a  great  number  of  their  counts  were  visited 
with  bodily  death  by  the  two  tyrants,  or  captured  and 
carried  off  by  the  enemy,  and  were  so  greatly  strait- 
ened by  evils  of  various  sorts  that  the  remaining  rem- 
nant of  the  people  had  submitted  to  the  dominion  of 
the  Saxons.  And  when  the  sovereignty  of  the  religious 
dukes  ceased,  there  ceased  also  in  the  land  attention  to 
Christianity  and  rehgion,  and  false  brethren,  seducing 
the  people,  were  brought  in:  who  under  the  name  of 
reUgion  introduced  a  large  and  perverse  heretical  sect. 
Of  whom  are  Torchtwine  and  Berehthere,  Eanbercht 
and  Hunraed,  whoremongers  and  adulterers,-  whom, 
in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  God  hath  judged: '  who 
stirred  up  a  most  vehement  conflict  against  the  man  of 
God;  but,  opposed  and  confuted  by  the  words  of 
truth,  they  received  a  just  judgment  of  recompense. 

When  the  renewed  splendor  of  faith  had  dawned 
among  the  people,  and  the  church  was  snatched  from 
the  great  snare  of  error;  while  the  friends  of  the  pro- 
fane enemy  and  the  abovementioned  dangerous  se- 
ducers of  the  people  were  now  banished:    the  saint 

'  More  properly  dukes,  as  they  are  called  in  the  following  sentence. 
2  Married  clergy.  »  Hebrews,  xiii,  4. 


66  WILLIBALD 

entered  upon  a  harvest  truly  plenteous,  yet  with  few 
reapers.^  And  at  first  he  endured  great  want  of  this 
world's  goods,  and  frugal  living;  and,  though  strait- 
ened and  distressed  by  great  indigence,  scattered  the 
seed  of  the  word  of  God.^  But  when  little  by  little  the 
multitude  of  the  believers  increased,  and  the  roll  of  the 
preachers  too  was  multiplied,  then  also  churches  were 
quickly  restored,  and  the  preaching  of  his  doctrines 
was  diffused  in  many  ways;  and  the  united  servants 
of  God  and  the  most  holy  monks  were  gathered  to- 
gether, and  a  monastery  was  built  in  the  place  which  is 
called  Orthorpf .^  These  procured  food  and  raiment  for 
themselves  by  laboring  assiduously  with  their  own 
hands  after  the  manner  of  the  apostle.^ 

The  report  of  his  holy  preaching  was  so  spread 
abroad,  and  increased  to  such  a  degree,  that  already 
his  fame  resounded  through  the  greatest  part  of 
Europe.  And  from  the  parts  of  Britain  an  exceed- 
ingly great  multitude  of  the  congregation  of  the  serv- 
ants of  God  had  come  unto  him:  readers,  and  writers 
also,  and  men  learned  in  other  arts.  Of  these  a  very 
great  number  put  themselves  under  the  instruction  of 
his  rule,  and  in  very  many  places  summoned  the  people 

^  Matthew,  ix,  37. 

2  Liudger  {Vita  Gregorii,  2)  refers  to  this  period:  "  they  were 
obliged  to  live  by  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  sometimes  in  fear  of 
death  to  flee  with  their  people  to  the  city  from  the  persecution  of  the 
pagans;  and  there  to  dwell  straitened  by  hunger  for  many  days,  until 
the  citizens  gathered  their  forces  and  again  drove  back  the  pagans 
with  the  strong  hand." 

3  Ohrdruf,  near  Gotha.  *  I  Corinthians,  iv,  12. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  67 

from  the  profane  error  of  heathenism.  And  some  in 
the  province  of  the  Hessians,  and  others  in  Thuringia, 
widely  dispersed  among  the  people,  preached  the  word 
of  God  to  the  country  districts  and  villages. 

A  prodigious  multitude  both  of  the  Hessians  and  of 
the  Thuringians  received  the  sacraments  of  the  faith, 
and  many  thousand  people  were  baptized.  And  when 
now  Gregory  the  Second  of  blessed  memory,  pope  of 
the  apostolic  see,  was  deceased,^  and  glorious  Gregory 
the  Younger  ^  ruled  the  chair  of  the  apostoHc  summit 
of  the  aforesaid  see,  again  the  saint's  messengers  came 
to  Rome  and  addressed  the  holy  bishop  of  the  apostolic 
see,  and  showed  to  him  the  former  alKance  of  friend- 
ship which  his  predecessor  mercifully  conferred  upon 
Saint  Boniface  and  his  household.  But  also  they 
assured  him  of  the  saint's  devoted  and  humble  sub- 
mission to  the  apostolic  see  for  the  future;  and,  in 
accordance  with  their  instructions,  they  prayed  that 
thenceforth  he  might  in  devout  submission  share  in  the 
brotherhood  and  communion  of  the  sacred  bishop  and 
of  the  whole  apostolic  see.  Then  straightway  the  holy 
pope  of  the  apostolic  see  offered  a  conciliatory  reply, 
and  granted  communion  of  brotherhood  and  friend- 
ship with  himself  and  the  apostolic  see  to  Saint  Boni- 
face and  to  those  subject  to  him.  And  he  gave  the 
ambassadors  an  archbishop's  pall,'^  and  sent  them  home 
honorably  with  gifts  and  divers  relics  of  saints. 

The  messengers  on  their  arrival  recited  to  Boniface 
the  voluntary  replies  of  the  man  apostoHc.    He  now 

*  II  February  731.  ^  Gregory  III  (731-741).         ^  E.,  28. 


68  WILLIBALD 

rejoiced  greatly,  and,  being  exceedingly  strengthened 
by  the  devoted  support  of  the  apostolic  see,  and  in- 
spired by  the  aid  of  the  divine  mercy,  built  two 
churches  to  the  Lord.  One  was  in  Frideslare,^  which 
he  consecrated  in  honor  of  Saint  Peter  chief  of  the 
apostles.  The  second  was  in  Hamanaburch;  ^  this  he 
dedicated  in  honor  of  Saint  Michael  the  archangel. 
Moreover  he  attached  two  small  monasteries  to  the 
churches,  and  added  to  these  no  small  company  of  the 
servants  of  God,  so  that  unto  this  day  glory  and  bless- 
ing and  thanksgivings  are  devoutly  offered  to  the  Lord 
God. 

When  all  this  was  duly  accompHshed,  he  went  to  the 
lands  of  the  Bavarians,  where  then  Duke  Hugobert  ^ 
reigned,  and  employed  among  them  most  assiduously 
his  ardor  for  preaching,  and  went  around  to  many 
churches  and  inspected  them.  And  he  was  armed  with 
so  great  zeal  of  divine  fortitude,  that  truly  he  con- 
demned and  cast  out,  in  accordance  with  the  decrees 
of  the  canons,  a  certain  schismatic  beguiled  by  hereti- 
cal depravity,  Eremvulf  by  name,  and  amended  the 
people  from  the  perverse  idolatry  of  his  sect.  And  he 
departed,  and  returned  to  the  brethren  who  were  es- 
tablished under  the  diocese  of  his  governance:  having, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  apostle,  a  desire  to  come 
unto  the  brethren.  * 

1  Fritzlar. 

2  The  same  as  Amanaburch,  above. 

3  Died  not  later  than  the  beginning  of  736. 
*  Romans,  xv,  23. 


CHAPTER  VII 

how  he  expelled  the  heretics  from  the  province  of  the 
Bavarians,  and  divided  it  into  Four  Parishes 

We  have  occupied  some  time  with  selected  examples 
of  the  merits  of  Saint  Boniface,  in  order  that  we  may 
set  forth,  briefly  indeed,  the  strong  direction  of  religion 
by  which  he  guided  himself  unceasingly  through  all 
periods  of  his  life.  For  in  truth  among  saints  it  is  a 
practice  of  long  standing,  that  they  improve  them- 
selves daily  through  the  examples  of  others,  and  that 
the  strength  of  love  in  their  hearts  increases  with  the 
decrease  of  the  reckoning  of  their  days. 

When  no  small  number  of  churches  had  been  built 
among  the  Hessians  and  in  Thuringia,  and  a  warden 
had  been  provided  for  each  church,  then,  accompanied 
by  a  band  of  the  disciples,  he  came  for  the  third  time 
to  Rome,  on  account  of  the  brotherly  communion  of 
the  sacred  apostolic  bishop  and  of  the  whole  clergy: 
that  he  might  enjoy  the  salutary  conversation  of  the 
apostolic  father,  and,  being  now  advanced  in  age,  com- 
mend himself  to  the  prayers  of  the  saints.  But  when 
after  the  immensely  long  journey  he  was  presented  to 
the  lord  apostolic,  Gregory  the  Younger  the  Second,  he 
was  kindly  received  by  the  pope,  and  was  held  in  such 
great  veneration  by  everyone,  as  well  Romans  as 

6g 


70  WILLIBALD 

strangers,  that  many  flocked  together  unto  his  whole- 
some teaching.  For  of  Franks  and  Bavarians,  and  also 
of  Saxons  arriving  from  Britain,  and  of  other  provinces, 
a  prodigious  multitude  clave  sedulously  unto  his  ad- 
monition. And  when  he  had  tarried  in  these  regions 
for  a  great  part  of  a  year,^  and  had  made  the  round  of 
the  relics  of  the  saints,  praying  as  he  went;  then  in- 
deed, having  again  saluted  the  venerable  bishop  of  the 
apostolic  see,  he  returned  home,  honored  and  enriched 
with  gifts  and  saints'  reHcs.  Coming  to  Italy,  he  en- 
tered the  walls  of  the  city  Ticena,^  and,  as  his  limbs 
were  aheady  weary  from  old  age,  rested  with  Liut- 
prand,  the  honorable  king  of  the  Lombards. 

Departing  from  Italy,  he  visited  the  Bavarians,^  not 
only  because  of  the  invitation  of  Odilo  their  duke,  but 
also  of  his  own  desire,  and  remained  among  them 
many  days,  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  word  of  God. 
He  renewed  the  sacraments  of  the  true  faith  and  of 
reUgion,  and  drove  away  the  destroyers  of  churches 
and  perverters  of  the  people.  Of  these  some  formerly 
falsely  preferred  themselves  to  the  rank  of  the  episco- 
pacy; some  assigned  themselves  to  the  priestly  office; 
some  by  these  inventions  and  innumerable  others  mis- 
led a  great  part  of  the  people.  But  the  saint,  already 
dedicated  to  God  from  infancy,  and  not  enduring  the 
insult  to  his  Lord,  restrained  Duke  Odilo  and  the 
whole  multitude  from  the  unjust  heretical  false  sect 
and  from  the  lewd  deception  of  the  priests.'^   And  with 

1  About  738.  2  Pavia.  ^  In  739. 

*  The  relation  of  Boniface  to  the  work  of  the  earlier  Celtic  mis- 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  71 

the  consent  of  Duke  Odilo  he  divided  the  province  of 
the  Bavarians  into  four  parishes,  and  to  rule  them 
made  four  bishops,  whom  he  ordained  and  raised  to 
the  episcopal  rank.  Of  these  the  first,  John  by  name, 
assumed  the  episcopal  chair  of  the  church  in  the  town 
which  is  called  Salzburch.^  The  second  was  Erembert, 
who  ruled  as  chief  watchman  the  church  at  Freising. 
The  third,  Gaibald,  was  shepherd  and  guard  of  the 
church  in  the  city  of  Regina.^  And  when  all  things 
were  duly  performed,  and  the  Christian  order  was 
established,  and  the  canon  laws  were  restored  among 
the  Bavarians,  then  he  returned  home  to  his  own 
churches.  And  he  governed  the  people  committed  to 
his  care,  and  watched  the  folds  of  the  flocks,  and  pro- 
vided sentinels  for  the  church;  and  so  delivered  the 
sheep  from  the  jaws  of  impious  wolves.^ 

When  the  temporal  kingdom  of  glorious  Duke 
Charles  was  finished,^  and  the  sovereignty  of  his  sons 
Carloman  and  Pippin  waxed  strong,  then  indeed,  by 
the  help  of  the  Lord  God  and  at  the  suggestion  of  Saint 

sionaries  in  Germany  is  discussed  in  detail  by  August  Ebrard  in  his 
essays,  Die  iroschottische  Missionskirche  des  sechslen,  siebenten,  und 
achten  J ahrhiinderts ,  und  ihre  Verbreltung  und  Bedeutung  aiif  dem 
Festland  (Giitersloh,  1873),  and  Bonifatius,  der  Zerstorer  des  colutn- 
banischen  Kirchentums  auf  dent  Festlande  (Giitersloh,  1882). 

1  Salzburg. 

2  Ratisbon  (Regensburg) . — The  three  complete  the  tale  of  bishops 
ordained  by  Boniface  at  this  time.  The  fourth  bishop,  Vivilo  of 
Passau,  had  been  already  ordained  by  Gregory  III,  as  is  expressly 
stated  in  Gregory's  letter  of  29  October  739,  confirming  the  establish- 
ment of  the  bishoprics.   E.,  45. 

3  John,  X,  12.  ■*  Charles  Martel  died  in  October,  741. 


72  WILLIBALD 

Boniface  the  archbishop,  the  testament  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  was  confirmed,  and  the  synodal  institu- 
tions of  the  orthodox  fathers  were  established  in  proper 
form  among  the  Franks,  and  all  was  amended  and 
cleansed  by  the  authority  of  the  canons.  The  wrongful 
connection  of  laymen  with  concubines  was  in  part 
severed  at  the  exhortation  of  the  saint;  ^  while  the 
impious  union  of  clergymen  with  wives  was  disjoined 
and  put  away.2  And  through  the  teaching  of  Saint 
Boniface  such  great  ardor  of  divine  love  was  kindled  in 
Carloman  and  Pippin,  that  to  a  large  extent  they  freed 
the  church  from  the  perverse  worship  to  which  it  had 
been  long  accustomed :  wherein  it  had  lost  the  right  of 
eternal  inheritance,^  being  involved  of  its  own  will,  and 
deceived  by  the  suggestion  of  heretics.  For  to  such  a 
degree  had  the  sect  of  heretics  choked  the  light  of 
spiritual  doctrine  among  the  people,  that  the  dark  fog 
of  heretical  deception  had  covered  a  very  great  part 
of  the  church.  Two  of  the  heretics,  for  example,  Alde- 
bert  and  Clemens,*  led  astray  by  profane  greed  of 

'  Capitulare  Siiessionense,  2  MsiTch  744,  4.:  inM.G.F.,  Capitularia, 
i,  p.  29. 

2  Levison  quotes  Capitulare  Suessionense,  3,  8;  also  Karlmanni 
Capitulate,  21  April  742,  i,  6,  7,  on  pp.  25  f.,  or  in  the  Epistolae,  56. 
In  all  these  cases,  however,  the  wording  is  ambiguous  —  perhaps 
purposely  so. 

^  Hebrews,  ix,  15. 

*  Aldebert,  a  Gallic  pseudo-saint,  is  an  interesting  figure,  of  whom 
one  would  like  to  know  more  than  is  contained  in  the  scanty  and 
partial  notices  that  have  survived.  He  would  appear  to  have  been  a 
prophet  and  visionary  somewhat  of  the  typt  of  the  late  Joseph  Smith. 
Clemens,  a  stubborn  Bible  Scot,  or  Irishman,  professed  a  supreme  dis- 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  73 

money/  assiduously  turned  the  people  from  the  way  of 
truth.  But  when  Saint  Boniface  the  archbishop,  with 
the  consent  of  Carloman  and  Pippin,  glorious  dukes, 
expelled  them  from  the  unity  of  the  church,  they  were, 
in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  dehvered  unto  Satan  for 
the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.^ 

regard  for  the  views  of  the  holy  fathers  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  Greg- 
ory, and  sought  rather  to  shape  his  conduct  by  the  precepts  of  the 
Book  of  Deuteronomy.  £.,  57,  59,  60,  62,  77;  Capiiulare  Suessio- 
nense,  2  March  744,  2,  7. 

^  "  Quod  crimen  iisdem  ab  ipso  Bonifatio  nainime  obiectum  est." 
Levison. 

*  I  Corinthians,  v,  5;  E.,  59. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

How  THROUGH  HIS  WHOLE  LiFE  HE  PREACHED  ZEALOUSLY; 
AND  WLTR  WHAT  EnD  HE  LEFT  THIS  WORLD 

Four  synodal  councils  were  held/  where  there  gath- 
ered together  bishops  and  priests,  deacons  and  clerics, 
and  all  ecclesiastical  ranks,  whom  Duke  Carloman  of 
illustrious  memory  caused  to  be  summoned  under  the 
sovereignty  of  his  kingdom.  At  these,  Boniface,  arch- 
bishop; ruler  of  the  bishopric  of  the  city  of  Magontia 
by  the  consent  and  gift  of  Carloman  himself;  legate  of 
the  Roman  church  and  of  the  apostoUc  see,  sent  first  by 
the  holy  and  venerable  bishop  of  that  see,  Gregory  the 
Younger,  or  the  Second,  to  count  from  the  First;  then 
by  the  honorable  Gregory  who  w^as  the  Younger,  count- 
ing from  the  Second,  or  the  Third,  to  count  from  the 
First;  Boniface,  I  say,  urged  that  numerous  canons 
and  ordinances  of  the  four  principal  early  councils  be 
preserved  for  the  W'holesome  increase  of  the  heavenly 
doctrine:  in  order^  that,  as  in  the  Nicene  council,^  when 
Constantine  Augustus  administered  the  empire  of  the 
world,  the  falsehood  of  the  Arian  blasphemy  w^as  over- 
thrown; as  the  assembly  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  fathers, 

1  742-747. 

2  Willibald  condenses  the  succeeding  nummary  of  the  four  principal 
councils  from  Isidorus  Hispalensis,  Etymologiae,  \\,  16. 

'  In  325. 

74 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  75 

when  Theodosius  the  Elder  ruled  Constantinople,^ 
condemned  one  Macedonius,  who  denied  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  God;  as  the  union  of  two  hundred  bishops, 
assembled  at  the  city  of  Ephesus  ^  under  Theodosius 
the  Younger,  separated  from  the  Catholic  church, 
with  a  righteous  curse  of  excommunication,  Nestorius, 
who  declared  that  there  are  two  persons  in  Christ;  and 
as  the  council  of  Chalcedon,^  an  assembly  of  six  hun- 
dred and  thirty  priests,  in  accordance  with  the  prede- 
termined decision  of  the  fathers  bestowed  the  curse  of 
excommunication  upon  Eutyches,  abbot  of  the  city  of 
Constantinople,  and  Dioscurus  his  champion,  rebels 
against  the  citadel  of  the  Catholic  faith:  so  indeed  in 
Francia,  when  all  the  falsehood  of  the  heretics  was 
utterly  rooted  out  and  the  conspiracy  of  the  wicked 
destroyed,  the  power  of  the  divine  law  might  be  in- 
creased; the  synodal  canons  of  the  general  councils 
might  be  received;  while  at  the  same  time  a  synodal 
assembly  of  bishops  of  spiritual  understanding  might 
meet  in  accordance  with  the  predetermined  prescrip- 
tion of  the  authentic  constitution. 

The  constant  expectation  of  war,  and  the  hostility 
and  insurrections  of  the  surrounding  barbarian  tribes, 
with  the  attendant  attempts  of  alien  robber  nations 
without  to  destroy  the  Frankish  realm  by  violence,  had 
prevented  the  holding  of  synodal  assemblies,  or  even 
had  caused  them  to  be  so  wholly  forgotten  that  they 
were  utterly  obliterated  from  present  memory  and  un- 

1  In  381.  "  In  451. 

2  In  431. 


76  WILLIBALD 

known.^  For  it  is  the  nature  of  the  world,  that  even 
if  it  be  recruited,  it  daily  suffers  damage  and  decrease 
within  itself;  while  if  it  is  not  thoroughly  renewed,  it 
expends  itself  and  vanishes  away,  and  hurries  breath- 
lessly to  its  predestined  end.  Wherefore  in  the  pilgrim- 
age of  this  mortal  life,  if  for  healing  spiritual  leaders 
have  ascertained  any  matters  for  the  common  profit  of 
the  weak  in  this  world,  even  if  at  times  these  matters 
have  been  introduced  into  the  minds  of  men,  they 
ought  to  be  preserved  and  most  strongly  defended  by 
Cathohcs,  and  held  with  minds  determined  and  im- 
movable: lest  human  obUvion  steal  upon  them,  or  the 
enticing  delight  of  worldly  enjoyment  impede  at  the 
instigation  of  the  devil.  For  this  reason  our  holy 
bishop  of  the  Lord,  moved  by  sharpest  anxiety  in  this 
regard,  sought  to  deliver  the  folk  from  the  baleful 
beguihng  of  the  crooked  serpent,^  and  very  often  urged 
Duke  Carloman  to  assemble  the  synodal  meeting :  that 
both  to  men  then  living  and  to  later  generations  the 
wisdom  of  spiritual  learning  might  be  disclosed  and  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity  come,  while  the  snaring  of 
souls  was  averted. 

After  he  placed  a  mirror  (as  it  were)  of  canonical 
rectitude  before  all  ranks  for  a  pattern  of  right  living, 
and  the  way  of  truth  became  clearly  visible  to  all, 
Boniface,  being  old,  weak,  and  decrepit,  presented  a 

1  Boniface  wrote  to  Pope  Zacharias,  early  in  742:  "  The  old  men 
say  that  the  Franks  have  held  no  synod  for  more  than  eighty  years, 
nor  had  an  archbishop,  nor  established  or  renewed  in  any  place  the 
canon  laws  of  the  church."    E.,  50. 

^  Isaiah,  xxvii,  i. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  77 

plan  wholesome  for  himself  and  his  feebleness,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  rule  of  ecclesiastical  management 
provided  a  pastoral  magistracy  for  the  peoples:  that, 
whether  he  Uved  or  died,  the  folk  might  not  lack  pas- 
tors and  their  healing  care.  He  promoted  to  the  epis- 
copal order  ^  two  men  of  good  diligence,  Willibald  and 
Burchard,  and  divided  unto  them  the  churches  com- 
mitted to  his  charge  in  the  innermost  parts  of  the  East 
Franks  and  the  confines  of  the  Bavarians.  To  Wilhbald 
he  entrusted  the  government  of  his  diocese  ^  in  the 
place  named  Haegsted.^  To  Burchard  he  delegated 
rank  and  office  *  in  the  place  called  Wirzaburch,^  and 
allotted  to  his  province  the  churches  in  the  borders  of 
the  Franks  and  Saxons  and  Slavs.  And  even  unto  the 
glorious  day  of  his  death  he  opened  without  ceasing  the 
narrow  way  ^  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  unto  the  multi- 
tudes. 

Pippin,  fortunate  successor  of  his  brother  Carlo- 
man,^  by  the  grace  of  God  received  the  royal  kingdom 
of  the  Franks,  and  there  being  now  a  sHght  lull  in  the 
disorder  of  the  peoples,^  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  king.* 

^  In  741. 

2  Vila  Willibaldi,  5,  in  M.G.H.,  Scriptores,  xv,  i,  p.  105. 

3  Eichstatt.  ^  Wurzburg. 

*  E.,  so,  SI,  S3-  *  Matthew,  vii,  14. 
^  Carloman  abdicated  in  747  and  became  a  monk. 

*  749-751- 

8  In  November,  7S1.  Annates  Regni  Francorum  (Hannoverae, 
189s:  in  Scriptores  Rerum  Germanicartmi},^p.  ?>,  10:  "  Pippin  was 
chosen  king  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Franks,  and  anointed  by 
the  hand  of  Archbishop  Boniface  of  holy  memory,  and  was  proclaimed 
king  by  the  Franks  in  the  city  of  Soissons."    Rettberg  rejects  the 


78  WnXIBALD 

Then  he  began  solicitously  to  fulfil  the  vows  he  had 
sworn  unto  the  Lord,  and  to  restore  without  delay  the 
synodal  ordinances,  and  to  renew  the  canonical  mys- 
teries which  his  brother  in  accordance  with  the  exhor- 
tation of  Saint  Boniface  the  archbishop  had  faithfully 
commenced,  and  to  prefer  Boniface  in  friendship  and 
honor,  and  to  obey  his  precepts  in  the  Lord.  But 
because  the  saint,  oppressed  by  bodily  weakness,^  was 
not  altogether  able  to  attend  the  synodal  assemblies, 
he  now  determined,  with  the  approval  and  advice  of 
the  glorious  king,  to  set  a  proper  minister  over  his 
flock.  He  appointed  Lul,  his  able  disciple,^  to  teach 
the  multitude  of  the  great  church,  and  advanced  and 
ordained  him  to  the  episcopal  rank,  and  committed  to 
him  the  inheritance  which  he  had  won  in  Christ  by 
earnest  labor.  Lul  was  the  trusty  comrade  in  the  Lord 
of  his  pilgrimage,  and  was  witness  both  of  the  suffering 
and  of  the  consolation.^ 

Now  when  the  Lord  wished  to  deliver  his  servant 
from  the  temptation  of  this  world  and  to  raise  him  up 
from  the  tribulations  of  the  temporal  life,  then  it  was 
determined  by  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord,  that,  ac- 
companied by  the  servants  of  God,  he  should  come  to 
Frisia,  which  aforetime  he  had  left  in  body,  not  in 
mind:  in  order  that  where  first  he  entered  upon  his 
active  preaching  and  his  profits  and  rewards  began, 

anointing  of  Pippin  by  Boniface,  and  supports  his  position  by  a 
careful  analysis  of  the  Prankish  chronicles.  Kirchengeschichte 
Deutschlands ,  i,  pp.  383-391.  Hauck,  on  the  other  hand,  accepts  the 
story.    Kirchengeschichte  Deutschlands,  i  (2d  ed.)  p.  561. 

1  E.,  93.  2  ji)i^^  3  II  Corinthians,  i,  7. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  79 

there  also,  leaving  the  world,  he  might  receive  the 
charge  of  recompense. 

He  foretold  the  coming  day  of  his  death  to  Bishop 
Lul  by  a  marvellous  and  in  a  way  prophetic  forecast, 
and  made  known  to  him  with  what  end  he  was  at  last 
to  leave  the  world,  and  set  before  him  in  order  his  plans 
for  the  building  of  churches  and  the  teaching  of  the 
people.  "  I  desire,"  said  he,  "  to  fulfil  the  journey  set 
before  me.  I  shall  not  be  able  to  call  myself  back  from 
the  welcome  departing  journey.  For  now  the  day  of 
my  departure  is  at  hand,^  and  the  time  of  my  death 
approaches;  now  I  shall  put  aside  the  prison  of  the 
body,  and  return  to  the  prize  of  the  eternal  recom- 
pense. But  do  thou,  dearest  son,  conduct  to  comple- 
tion the  building  of  churches  which  I  have  commenced 
in  Thuringia.  Do  thou  most  earnestly  recall  the 
people  from  the  trackless  waste  of  error.  And  do  thou 
complete  the  construction  of  the  basilica  already 
begun  at  Fulda,^  and  bring  thither  my  body  aged  by 
many  hastening  years."  ^  And  having  made  an  end  of 
this  discourse,  he  added  to  it  more  words  of  the  follow- 
ing sort,  saying:  "  Son,  provide  by  thy  most  prudent 
counsel  everything  which  must  be  joined  to  our  use  in 
this  our  journey;  but  also  lay  in  the  chest  of  my  books 
a  Unen  cloth,  wherein  my  decrepit  body  may  be 
wrapped." 

1  II  Timothy,  iv,  6. 

2  See  Gregor  Richter,  Beitrage  zur  Geschichle  der  Graheskirche  des 
hi.  Bonifatius  in  Fulda  in  Feslgabe  ziim  Bonifatms-Jubildum  1905 
(Fulda,  1905). 

'  E.,  86. 


8o  WILLIBALD 

At  this  sad  speech  Bishop  Lul  could  not  restrain  his 
sobs,  but  forthwith  wept  unrestrainedly.  Then  Saint 
Boniface  made  an  end  of  the  conversation  and  turned 
to  other  matters.  He  did  not  draw  back  from  the 
journey  which  he  had  undertaken,  but,^  after  a  few 
days'  interval,  took  travelling  companions  and  went 
on  board  ship,  and  pushed  down  the  Rhine,^  seeking 
haven  at  night  time,  until  he  entered  the  moist  fields 
of  the  Frisians,  and  passed  in  safety  across  the  lake 
which  in  their  tongue  is  called  Aehnere,^  and  made  a 
round  of  inspection  along  shores  barren  of  the  divine 
seed.^  And  after  escaping  peril  and  hazard  of  rivers 
and  the  sea  and  of  the  great  waters,  he  went  safely  into 
danger,  and  visited  the  pagan  nation  of  the  Frisians, 
whose  land  is  divided  by  the  intervening  waters  into 
many  territories  and  districts,  yet  in  such  wise  that  the 
different  names  indicate  the  property  of  a  single 
nation.  But  since  it  would  be  tedious  to  repeat  the 
districts  in  order,  we  desire  to  mention  by  name  only 
those  which  are  veraciously  cited  to  afford  connection 
to  our  narrative:  that  place  and  language  may  equally 
transmit  our  story  of  the  saint's  piety,  and  disclose  the 
end  with  which  he  left  this  world. 

So  he  traversed  all  Frisia,  and  removed  the  pagan 
worship  and  overthrew  the  erroneous  way  of  heathen- 

i  At  this  point  the  punctuation  of  the  older  texts  is  preferable  to 
that  of  Jaffe  and  Levison,  who  begin  their  new  paragraph  in  the  mid- 
dle of  a  sentence. 

2  This  voyage  must  be  placed  in  the  summer  —  probably  the  early 
summer  —  either  of  753  or  of  754. 

3  Aelmere,  '  the  Noble  Sea  ';  now  the  Zuyder  Zee. 
*  Matthew,  xiii;  Luke,  viii,  11. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  8i 

ism,  and  earnestly  preached  the  word  of  God;  and, 
having  destroyed  the  divinity  of  the  heathen  temples, 
he  built  churches  with  great  zeal.  And  now  he  bap- 
tized many  thousand  persons,  men  and  women  and 
little  ones,  being  aided  by  his  fellow  soldier  and  suf- 
fragan bishop  Eoba,  whom  he  summoned  to  Frisia  to 
aid  the  feebleness  of  his  old  age,  charging  him  with  the 
bishopric  in  the  city  which  is  called  Trecht;  and  by 
priests  and  deacons,  of  whom  these  are  the  names: 
Wintrung  and  Walthere  and  Ethelhere,  endowed  with 
the  sacerdotal  office  of  the  priesthood;  Hamund, 
Scirbald,  and  Bosa,  assigned  to  the  service  of  Levites; 
Wacchar  and  Gundaecer,  Illehere  and  Hathovulf, 
raised  to  the  conventual  order  of  monks.  These  with 
Saint  Boniface  published  widely  through  the  people 
the  seed  of  eternal  Ufe,^  and,  supported  by  the  Lord 
God,  made  it  known  to  such  an  extent,  that  even  as  in 
accordance  with  the  pattern  of  the  apostolic  custom 
they  were  of  one  heart  and  one  soul,^  so  they  had  one 
and  the  same  martyr's  crown,  one  and  the  same  reward 
of  victory. 

After  the  splendor  of  faith  of  which  we  have  spoken 
dawned  through  Frisia,  and  the  happy  end  of  our 
saint's  life  approached,^  then,  accompanied  only  by  a 

1  Luke,  viii,  ii :  "  The  seed  is  the  word  of  God." 

2  Acts,  iv,  32. 

3  According  to  Eigil,  Vita  Sturmi,  15a  (in  M.G.H.,  Scriptores,  ii, 
p.  372),  this  was  in  the  second  summer  of  the  Frisian  ministry,  after  an 
intervening  winter  in  Germany.  "  In  the  tenth  year  after  he  removed 
to  the  holy  place  [Fulda],  the  holy  Archbishop  Boniface,  having  taken 
counsel  with  the  king  and  other  Christians,  went  to  the  farther  places 


82  WILLIBAI.D 

number  of  his  personal  followers,  he  pitched  his  tents 
by  the  bank  of  the  river  which  is  called  Bordne/  which 
is  upon  the  Umits  of  the  districts  which  in  the  country 
tongue  are  called  Ostor-  and  Westeraeche.  But  be- 
cause he  had  appointed  unto  the  people,  already  scat- 
tered far  and  wide,  a  holiday  of  confirmation  of  the 
neophytes,  and  of  the  laying  on  of  hands  by  the  bishop 
upon  the  newly  baptized  and  of  their  confirmation, 
every  man  went  unto  his  own  house,^  that  in  accord- 
ance with  the  precise  command  of  the  holy  bishop  all 
might  be  presented  together  on  the  day  set  for  their 
confirmation. 

Wholly  opposite  was  the  event.  When  the  appointed 
day  had  dawned,  and  the  mornmg  light  was  breaking 
after  the  rising  of  the  sun,  then  came  enemies  instead 
of  friends,  new  lictors  instead  of  new  worshippers  of 
the  faith;  and  a  vast  multitude  of  foes,  armed  with 
spears  and  shields,  rushed  with  glittering  ^  weapons 

of  the  Frisians,  which  were  addicted  to  the  pagan  worship,  and  there 
by  teaching  and  baptizing  brought  a  vast  multitude  of  people  unto  the 
Lord.  Thence  after  a  long  time  departing,  he  came  in  safety  to  his 
own  churches  in  Germany.  But  in  the  following  year  he  came  again 
to  the  moist  fields  of  the  Frisians;  for  he  desired  to  complete  the  work 
of  preaching  which  he  had  begun." 

1  The  Boom,  in  the  Dutch  province  of  Friesland. 

2  John,  vii,  53. 

'  Bibrantibus:  wrongly  rendered  as  passive  (mit  geschwungenen 
Waffen)  by  Bonnell,  Kiilb,  and  Arndt;  as  indicatmg  sound  {mit 
Wafengeton)  by  Simson,  who  is  led  astray  by  the  will-o'-the-wisp 
authority  of  Otloh's  paraphrase.  I  take  it  that  the  idea  meant  to  be 
conveyed  is  that  of  the  play  of  light  upon  swiftly  moving  steel,  as  in 
Scott's  story  of  the  attack  on  the  smugglers  in  Guy  Mannering:  "  The 
press  became  furiously  agitated,  while  some  endeavored  to  defend 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  83 

into  the  camp.  Then  hastily  the  attendants  sprang 
forth  against  them  from  the  camp,  and  betook  them- 
selves to  arms  on  either  side,  and  were  eager  to  defend 
against  the  crazy  host  of  the  mad  folk  the  sainted 
martyrs  that  were  to  be.  But  when  the  man  of  God 
heard  the  onset  of  the  tumultuous  throng,  imme- 
diately he  called  to  his  side  the  band  of  clerics,^  and, 
taking  the  saints'  relics  which  he  was  wont  to  have 
always  with  him,  came  out  of  the  tent.  And  at  once, 
rebuking  the  attendants,  he  forbade  combat  and 
battle,  saying:  ''  Stop  fighting,  lads!  Give  up  the 
battle!  For  we  are  taught  by  the  trusty  witness  of 
Scripture,  that  we  render  not  evil  for  evil,^  but  con- 
trariwise good  for  evil.^  Already  the  long  desired  day 
is  at  hand,  and  the  voluntary  time  of  our  departure  is 
near."*  Therefore  be  ye  comforted  in  the  Lord,  and 
suffer  with  joy  the  grace  of  his  permission.    Trust  on 

themselves,  others  to  escape;  shots  were  fired,  and  the  glittering 
broadswords  began  to  appear  flashing  above  the  heads  of  the  rioters." 
Unequivocal  instances  of  the  reference  of  vibrare  to  the  play  of  light 
are  Cicero,  Academica  Priora,  33  (in  a  discussion  of  the  colors  of  the 
sea):  "Mare  .  .  .  nunc,  qua  a  sole  collucet,  albescit  et  vibrat  "; 
Silius  Italicus,  Punka,  iv,  v.  156: 

"  CoUa  viri  fulvo  radiabant  lactea  torque, 

Auro  virgatae  vestes;  manicaeque  rigebant 

Ex  auro;  et  simili  vibrabat  crista  metallo." 

1  "  Moreover  there  suffered  with  him  fifty  religious  men  of  his 
clergy,  priests,  deacons,  and  monks;  but  the  better  known  among 
them  were  Eobanus  the  bishop  and  Adalharius  the  priest."  Martyro- 
logium  Fuldense,  in  Levison,  Vitae,  p.  60. 

2  I  Thessalonians,  v,  15;  Romans,  xii,  17. 
'  I  Peter,  iii,  9;  Matthew,  v,  39-44. 

*  II  Timothy,  iv,  6. 


84  WILLIBALD 

him,  and  he  will  release  your  souls."  But  also  with 
fatherly  speech  he  incited  those  standing  near,  priests 
and  deacons  and  men  of  lower  rank,  trained  to  God's 
service,  saying:  ''  Men  and  brethren,  be  of  stout  heart, 
and  fear  not  them  who  kill  the  body,  since  they  are  not 
able  to  slay  the  soul,^  which  continues  without  end; 
but  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  fasten  to  God  the  anchor 
of  your  hope.  For  straightway  he  shall  render  you  the 
reward  of  perpetual  recompense,  and  shall  give  you  an 
abode  in  his  heavenly  palace  with  the  angels  who 
dwell  on  high.  Do  not  enslave  yourselves  to  the  empty 
pleasures  of  this  world;  be  not  seduced  by  the  vain 
flatteries  of  the  Gentiles;  but  endure  firmly  here  the 
sudden  moment  of  death,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  reign 
with  Christ  for  all  time."  While  with  such  exhorta- 
tion of  doctrine  he  was  kindly  inciting  the  disciples  to 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  quickly  the  mad  tumult  of 
pagans  rushed  in  upon  them  with  swords  and  all  the 
equipment  of  war,  and  stained  the  saints'  bodies  with 
propitious  gore. 

Having  worked  their  will  on  the  mortal  flesh  of  the 
just,  the  exultant  throng  of  heathens  at  once  seized  the 
spoils  of  victory,  the  fruit  of  their  damnation,  and, 
wasting  the  camp,  shared  and  plundered  the  booty. 
But  also  they  stole  the  chests,  in  which  were  many 
volumes  of  books,  and  the  boxes  of  relics;  and,  be- 
lieving themselves  enriched  by  a  great  abundance  of 
gold  and  silver,  carried  away  the  cases,  locked  as  they 
were,  to  the  ships.    Now  in  the  ships  was  the  daily 

1  Matthew,  x,  28. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  85 

sustenance  of  the  clerics  and  attendants,  and  some 
wine  still  left  of  the  same  supply.  And  when  they 
found  the  beloved  drink,  the  heathens  hastily  com- 
menced to  sate  their  thirsty  maws  and  to  make  their 
stomachs  drunken  with  wine;  and  at  length,  through 
the  wonderful  direction  of  almighty  God,  they  took 
counsel,  and  began  to  discuss  concerning  the  booty 
and  spoils  that  they  had  taken,  and  to  deliberate  how 
they  might  mutually  share  the  gold  or  silver  which 
they  had  not  even  seen.  While  they  held  wordy  dis- 
cussion over  the  riches  they  reckoned  so  great,  again 
and  again  dispute  and  quarrels  sprang  up;  and  finally 
there  began  such  ermiity  and  discord,  that  insane 
frenzy  divided  the  raging  throng  into  two  factions, 
and  at  last  they  turned  the  weapons,  with  which  earlier 
they  had  murdered  the  holy  martyrs,  against  each 
other  in  merciless  strife. 

After  the  most  part  of  the  raging  throng  had  been 
laid  low,  the  survivors  ran  rejoicing  to  the  wealth 
gained  by  the  loss  of  souls  and  life,  while  the  rivals 
who  opposed  them  respecting  the  passionately  coveted 
treasure  lay  dead.  Having  broken  open  the  boxes  of 
books,  they  found  volumes  instead  of  gold,  and  for 
silver,  leaves  of  divine  learning.  Thus  deprived  of  the 
precious  reward  of  gold  and  silver,  they  scattered  over 
the  meadow  some  of  the  books  which  they  found; 
others  they  threw  away,  casting  some  into  the  reed 
thickets  of  the  marshes,  hiding  the  rest  each  in  a  dif- 
ferent place.  But  by  the  grace  of  almighty  God  and 
through  the  prayers  of  Saint  Boniface  the  archbishop 


86  WILLIBALD 

and  martyr,  the  books  were  found  a  long  time  after, 
sound  and  unharmed,  and  returned  by  the  several  dis- 
coverers to  the  house  ^  in  which  even  unto  this  day 
they  are  of  use  for  the  salvation  of  souls. ^ 

Sad  at  the  loss  of  the  wealth  on  which  they  had  reck- 
oned, the  murderers  returned  home.  After  three  days' 
respite,  they  experienced  in  their  own  possessions  a 
greater  loss,  and  also  paid  Hfe  for  life  in  retribution. 
For  the  omnipotent  Author  and  Reformer  of  the  world 
wished  to  avenge  himself  on  his  enemies,  and  with  the 
zeal  of  his  wonted  compassion  to  take  revenge  for  the 
blood  of  saints  shed  for  his  sake.^  Deeply  moved  by 
the  recent  act  of  mad  wickedness,  he  wished  to  show 
openly  his  wrath,  too  long  deferred,  against  the  idola- 

^  Presumably  the  cathedral  at  Fulda. 

2  Three  books,  the  so-caUed  codices  Bonifatiani,  ascribed  by  tradi- 
tion to  this  collection,  are  preserved  in  the  Landesbibliothek  at  Fulda. 
Carl  Scherer,  Die  Codices  Bonifatiani  in  der  Landesbibliothek  zu  Fulda, 
in  Festgabe  zum  Bonifatius-Jubilaum  (Fulda,  1905);  W.  M.  Lindsay, 
Early  Irish  Minuscule  Script  (Oxford,  1910),  pp.  4-12.  One  of  these, 
cut  almost  through  by  some  sharp  instrument,  is  traditionally  identi- 
fied with  the  book  mentioned  in  the  Life  of  Boniface  attributed  to 
Bishop  Radbod  of  Utrecht  (Levison,  Vitae,  p.  73) :  "  As  I  was  making 
inquiries  concerning  Boniface  in  the  same  region,  on  the  chance  that  I 
might  find  some  material  for  my  work,  I  was  told  that  a  certain  woman 
was  yet  living,  though  greatly  enfeebled  by  age,  who  was  wont  to 
assert  with  an  oath,  that  she  was  present  when  the  soldier  of  Christ 
was  beheaded,  and  to  say,  that  when  he  was  smitten  by  the  sword  he 
covered  his  head  with  a  copy  of  the  holy  gospels:  that  beneath  it  he 
might  receive  the  stroke  of  the  assassin,  and  that  he  might  have  its 
defence  in  death,  as  he  had  loved  its  words  in  life." 

'  Revelation,  xvi,  6;  Psalms,  Ixxix,  10.  Adam  of  Bremen  uses  the 
second  of  these  references  in  a  very  similar  connection.  Gesta  Hatn- 
maburgensis  Ecclesiae  Pontificum,  i,  49. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  87 

ters.  And  as  the  unexpected  tidings  of  the  temporal 
slaughter  of  the  sainted  martyrs  flew  through  the  dis- 
tricts and  villages  and  the  whole  province,  and  the 
Christians  learned  of  the  corporeal  death  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, they  at  once  collected  a  very  large  expeditionary 
force,  and,  being  warriors  prepared  to  take  speedy 
vengeance,  hurried  to  the  boundary.  After  the  lapse 
of  the  three  days'  period  mentioned  above,  they  en- 
tered the  land  of  the  infidels  as  unharmed  but  un- 
friendly guests,  and  overthrew  with  prodigious  carnage 
the  pagans  who  came  up  against  them.  The  pagans 
were  unable  to  withstand  the  first  onset  of  the  Chris- 
tian folk,  and  consequently  betook  themselves  to  flight 
and  were  slaughtered  in  great  numbers.  Fleeing,  they 
lost  their  fives  and  household  goods  and  children.  But 
the  Christians  took  as  spoil  the  wives  and  Httle  ones  ^ 
of  the  superstitious  folk,  their  menservants  also  and 
maidservants,  and  returned  to  their  own  land.  And  it 
came  to  pass  in  wondrous  wise,  that  the  neighboring 
heathen  that  survived,  shattered  by  present  mis- 
fortune, were  enfightened  by  the  glory  of  faith  and 
preferred  to  shun  eternal  torment;  and,  thoroughly 
terrified  by  the  administration  of  the  divine  rebuke, 
accepted,  upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Boniface,  the 
proof  of  his  doctrine  which  they  rejected  while  he 
lived . 

With  swelhng  sails  and  favorable  breezes,  the  body 
of  the  sainted  bishop,  and  also  those  of  the  other 
martyrs,  were  brought  after  not  many  days  across 
1  Genesis,  xxxiv,  29;  Numbers,  xxxi,  9. 


88  WILLIBALD 

the  sea  which  is  called  Aelmere  to  the  abovenamed 
city  of  Trecht.  There  they  were  deposited  and  in- 
terred/ until  religious  and  faithful  brethren  in  the 
Lord  arrived  from  Magontia,  sent  by  ship  by  Bishop 
Lul,  the  successor  of  our  holy  bishop  and  martyr  of 
Christ,  to  bring  the  corpse  of  the  saint  to  the  monas- 
tery which  he  had  built  during  his  life,  and  which  is 
situate  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Fulda.  Of  these 
brethren  there  was  one,  Hadda  by  name,  the  promoter 
of  the  journey  and  organizer  of  the  party,  who  led  a 
life  of  singular  sanctity  and  peculiar  chastity  and  con- 
tinence. To  him  especially,  with  the  brethren  who 
went  with  him.  Bishop  Lul  entrusted  the  performance 
of  this  embassy  and  the  bringing  of  the  sacred  body: 
that  greater  honor  of  devotion  might  be  paid  to  the 
venerable  saint,  and  that  the  witness  of  many  might 
prevail  more  in  those  matters  which  they  heard  or  saw. 
When  the  honorable  brethren  of  this  holy  company 
came  to  the  city  of  Trecht,  a  small  crowd  of  the  people 
gathered  to  oppose  them.  When  the  crowd  heard  how 
an  edict  had  been  issued  by  glorious  King  Pippin,  the 
count  of  the  city  proclaimed  an  interdict,  and  forbade 
that  the  body  of  Bishop  Boniface  should  be  removed 
thence.  But  the  strength  of  the  Almighty  is  stronger 
than  men's  strength.  Wherefore  immediately,  in  the 
presence  of  all,  a  marvellous  and  memorable  miracle 
was  heard,  wrought  through  angeUc  rather  than  human 
understanding.  The  bell  of  the  church,  untouched  by 
human  hands,  was  rung,  as  a  token  of  the  admonition 

1  Eigil,  Vita  Sturmi,  isa. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  89 

of  the  sacred  body;  so  that  all,  smitten  by  sudden  fear 
and  terror,  were  stupefied,  and  trembled  exceedingly, 
and  cried  out  that  the  body  of  this  righteous  man  must 
be  given  up.  And  so  at  once  the  body  was  yielded, 
and  was  honorably  removed  by  the  aforesaid  brethren 
of  sacred  memory,  and  without  labor  of  rowers  ^  was 
brought  on  the  thirtieth  day  after  the  saint's  decease 
to  the  abovementioned  city  of  Magontia. 

The  wonderful  providence  of  almighty  God  brought 
it  to  pass,  that  on  one  and  the  same  day,  though  the 
time  had  not  been  beforehand  set  and  appointed,  there 
assembled  unto  the  funeral  of  this  great  man,  as  if  the 
day  had  been  set  and  predetermined,  not  only  the 
ambassadors  who  brought  the  sacred  body,  but  also 
many  faithful  men  and  women  from  distant  and  widely 
scattered  countries.  Moreover  the  saint's  successor  in 
his  venerable  ofiice,  Lul,  bishop  of  the  Lord,  who  at 
that  time  was  present  in  the  king's  palace,  came  to  the 
city  of  Magontia  as  it  were  at  the  same  hour  and  mo- 
ment, though  he  was  altogether  ignorant  of  the  occa- 
sion, and  knew  not  of  the  arrival  of  the  sacred  body.^ 

1  "  Per  Rheni  alveum  navim  trahere,  et  superiora  petere  coepe- 
runt."    Vita  Sturmi,  isb. 

2  This  passage  is  discussed  at  length  by  Michael  Tangl  in  his  essay 
"Das  Todesjahr  des  Bonifatius,"  in  Zeitschrifl  des  Vereins  fur  kess- 
ische  Geschichle  und  Landeskunde,  Neue  Folge,  xxvii  (Cassel,  1903), 
pp.  243  f.  It  appears  to  me,  however,  to  weigh  somewhat  heavily 
against  Tangl's  contention  (see  below)  that  Boniface  died  in  754,  not 
755  as  stated  by  Willibald.  In  the  latter  year  Lul's  presence  at  the 
palace  at  Verneuil  near  the  end  of  June  is  probable,  since  King 
Pippin  had  assembled  there  a  synod  of  "  almost  all  the  bishops  of  the 
Gauls."    M.G.H.,  Capitularia,  i,  pp.  32-37;    Bohmer-Miihlbacher, 


90  WILLIBALD 

And  all,  strangers  and  citizens,  were  oppressed  by 
sorrow  and  grief,  yet  rejoiced  abundantly  and  were 
glad.  For  in  viewing  the  temporal  and  bodily  death 
of  this  great  bishop,  they  grieved,  on  the  one  hand,  for 
the  loss  of  his  corporeal  presence,  while  on  the  other 
hand  they  believed  that  he  would  be  protector  to 
them  and  theirs  for  all  time  to  come.  Wherefore, 
their  hearts  torn  by  these  conflicting  emotions,  the 
people,  with  the  priests  and  deacons  and  every  ec- 
clesiastical rank,  carried  the  dead  saint  to  that  place 
which  he  had  determined  upon  while  ahve.^  They 
prepared  a  new  sarcophagus  in  the  church,  and  placed 
the  body  there  with  the  customary  rites  of  sepulture. 
And  when  all  was  duly  performed,  they  returned  to 
their  homes,  comforted  by  the  power  of  faith. 

But  in  the  place  where  they  interred  the  sacred  body 
there  was  an  abundant  succession  of  divine  blessings. 
Through  the  prayers  of  the  saint,  those  who  came 
thither  possessed  by  divers  infirmities  obtained  healing 
remedy  of  body  and  mind.  Some  aheady  moribund  in 
the  whole  body  and  ahnost  completely  lifeless,  at  the 

Regesta,  i,  i,  pp.  40  f.  In  the  summer  of  754  also  Pippin  was  near 
Paris,  at  Verberie  and  (28  July)  at  St.  Denis.  Regesta,  i,  i,  pp.  38  f. 
But  Tangl's  confident  assertion,  "  Wahrend  derselben  Zeit  hatte  Lull 
in  hochster  Eile  eine  Reise  an  den  Hof  untemommen,  um  sich  rasch 
die  Nachfolge  in  Mainz  bei  Pippin  und  dem  am  Konigshof  weilenden 
Papst  zu  sichem,"  is  in  truth  the  merest  conjecture,  and,  in  view 
of  the  care  with  which  Boniface  had  provided  for  the  succession  before 
his  departure  to  Frisia  (p.  78,  above;  and  E.,  93),  a  most  unlikely 
one  on  the  face. 

1  The  cathedral  at  Fulda.  Eigil  says  that  Lul  wished  to  retain  the 
body  at  Mayence.    Vita  Sturmi,  isb. 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  91 

last  breath,  were  restored  to  their  pristine  health. 
Others,  whose  eyes  were  veiled  by  blindness,  received 
their  sight.  Yet  others,  bound  fast  in  the  snares  of  the 
devil,  out  of  their  senses  and  mad,  afterward  regained 
soundness  of  mind,  and,  restored  to  pristine  health, 
gave  praise  and  glorified  God:  who  deigned  to  adorn 
and  enrich  and  honor  his  servant  with  this  great  gift, 
and  to  glorify  him  by  dazzling  miracles  made  manifest 
to  present  and  future  times  and  ages,  when  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  pilgrimage  had  passed :  which  year  also  is 
reckoned  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Lord  the  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty-fifth,  and  the  eighth  indiction.^  More- 
over he  sat  in  the  episcopacy  thirty-six  years  six 
months  and  six  days.^  And  so  in  the  manner  described 
above,  on  the  fifth  of  June,  rewarded  with  the  triumph 
of  martyrdom,  he  departed  to  the  Lord:  to  whom  is 
honor  and  glory  unto  ages  of  ages.    Amen. 

1  The  Fulda  tradition,  supported  by  Tangl  in  his  essay  mentioned 
above,  gives  the  year  as  754.  Tangl's  arguments,  though  they  have 
won  a  very  general  acceptance,  seem  to  me  far  from  conclusive. 

*  An  error.     See  p.  60,  n.  2. 


CHAPTER  IX 

How  IN  THE  Place  where  the  Blood  of  Martyrs  was 
SHED,  a  Living  Fountain  appeared  to  those  who  were 

INSPECTING  the  PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  ChURCH 

Having  recounted  the  saint's  distinguished  deeds  in 
childhood,  boyhood,  youth,  and  the  prime  of  Ufe,  and 
even  in  old  age,  let  us  return  to  those  wonders  that  by 
the  help  of  the  Lord  were  wrought  to  declare  to  mortals 
the  sanctity  of  the  saint's  life,  after  this  world's  race 
was  run  and  that  life  was  happily  ended;  and  recall  to 
memory  a  miracle  for  folk  to  remember  and  repeat. 
Venerable  Bishop  Lul  told  us  the  story  of  the  miracle 
even  as  he  learned  it  from  glorious  King  Pippin,  who 
in  turn  heard  it  from  eyewitnesses.  As  Lul  related  it 
to  us,  it  was  as  follows. 

In  the  place  where  of  yore  the  precious  blood  of  the 
holy  martyr  was  shed,  the  church  and  a  great  part  of 
the  Frisian  folk  planned  to  rear  high  upon  a  deep  foun- 
dation an  earthen  mound.  This  was  because  of  the 
vast  irruptions  of  the  neap  and  spring  tides,i  which  in 
alternation  disturb  the  tides  of  sea  and  ocean,  the  less- 
ening of  the  waters  and  the  floods.^  On  the  mound  they 
proposed  to  raise  a  church  —  as  was  done  later  ^  — 

^  Ledonis  ac  malinae  inruptiones. 
2  Bede,  De  Temporum  Ratione,  29. 

*  Dedicated  to  Saint  Paul  and  Boniface.  Versus  Alchuini  de  Ec- 
clesia  Sancti  Liudgeri,  in  M.G.H.,  Poetae  Latini  Aevi  Carolini,  i  (1881), 
p.  304: 

"  Adjuvat  hinc  Paulus,  doctor  Bonifatius  inde, 
Haec  illis  quoniam  constat  simul  aula  dicata." 

02 


THE  LIFE  OF  BONIFACE  93 

and  to  erect  a  habitation  of  the  servants  of  God  in  the 
same  place.  But  when  now  the  mound  was  wholly 
finished  and  the  entire  work  of  its  erection  was  com- 
pleted, the  residents  and  inhabitants  of  that  place, 
ha\dng  returned  home,  had  some  discussion  among 
themselves  in  regard  to  the  want  of  fresh  water,  which 
throughout  almost  all  Frisia  occasions  the  greatest 
difficulty  both  to  men  and  to  beasts.  Then  at  length, 
through  the  Lord's  compassion,  a  certain  man,  Abba 
by  name,  who  in  accordance  with  the  edict  of  glorious 
King  Pippin  administered  the  office  of  count  over  that 
district  and  place  and  was  director  of  the  work  in 
question,  taking  comrades  with  him,  mounted,  and 
rode  round  the  hill,  and  inspected  the  mound.  Sud- 
denly and  unexpectedly  the  steed  of  an  attendant, 
while  merely  stamping  on  the  ground,  felt  it  sinking 
and  giving  way  altogether,  and  wallowed,  its  fore 
legs  held  fast  in  the  soil,  until  those  who  were  more 
active  and  skilful  jumped  down  very  hurriedly  from 
their  steeds,  and  puUed  out  the  horse  that  was  stuck 
fast  in  the  earth.  But  at  once  a  miracle  stupendous 
and  worthy  to  behold  was  made  manifest  to  those  who 
were  present.  A  fountain,  exceeding  clear  beyond  the 
manner  of  that  country,  and  wondrous  sweet  and  pleas- 
ant to  the  taste,  came  bursting  out,  and,  penetrating 
through  unknown  channels,  flowed  forth,  so  that  it 
seemed  already  a  very  large  brook.  Astounded  by 
this  miracle,  they  returned  home  with  rejoicing  and 
gladness,  and  made  known  to  the  churches  those 
matters  which  they  had  seen. 


A  LIST  OF 

EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS 

OF  THE   LIFE 


A   LIST  OF   EDITIONS  AND 
TRANSLATIONS   OF  THE   LIFE 

(a)  Editions 

Henricus  Canisius.  Sancti  Willibaldi  Episcopi  Eichstadiani 
Liber  de  vita  S.  Bonifacii  Martyris,  Germanorum  Apos- 
toli,  Archiepiscopi  Moguntini.  Nunc  primum  editus 
ex  manuscriptis  codicibus  Monasterii  Rebdorfensis, 
prope  Eichstadium,  et  Magnifici  et  CI.  D.  Alberti  Hungeri 
Procancellarii  Academiae  Ingolstadiensis,  &'c.  In  his 
Antiqua  Lectio,   torn,   iv,  pars  secunda   (Ingolstadii, 

1603),  pp.  337-391,  742-745-^ 

This  is  repeated,  with  a  new  preface  and  additional 
notes,  in  the  second  edition  of  Canisius,  by  Jacques 
Basnage  (Thesaurus  Monumentorum,  etc.,  Amstelae- 
dami  or  Antverpiae,  1725),  in  vol.  ii,  pp.  227-249.2 

Nicolaus  Serarius,  in  Epistolae  S.  Bonifacii  Martyris  (Mo- 
guntiae,  1605;  with  new  title-page,  1629),  pp.  253-284. 
From  a  manuscript  furnished  to  Serarius  by  Andreas 
Weber  of  Frankfort,  supplemented  from  the  edition  of 
Canisius.  Begins:  "  Prologus  in  Vitam,  vel  Passionem 
Beatissimi  Martyris  Christi,  &  Archiepiscopi  Boni- 
facii." 

1  Title,  p.  337;  De  Willibaldo,  Bonifacio,  Lullo,  Megingozo,  pp. 
338-40;  text,  pp.  341-386;  Notae  et  variae  lectiones,  pp.  387-391; 
Variae  lectiones  in  Vitam  S.  Bonifacii,  scriptam  a  S.  Willibaldo,  ex 
membranis  m.  s.  Monasterii  Windbergensis  in  Bavaria,  pp.  742-745. 

'^  Text,  pp.  232-249. 

07 


98  EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS 

Laurentius  Surius.  Vita  S.  Bonifacii  A  rchiepiscopi  Mogun- 
tini,  Germanorum  Apostoli  et  Martyris,  author e  S.  Wili- 
haldo  prima  Eistatense  Episcopo.  In  the  fourth  edition 
of  his  De  Prohatis  Sanctorum  Vitis  or  Vitae  Sanctorum 
(Coloniae  Agrippinae,  1617),  Junius,  pp.  49-57-  Lacks 
Chapter  IX. 

In  the  latest  edition  of  Surius  (Augustae  Taurinorum, 
1875-80)  Willibald's  work  is  omitted. 

Jean  MabUlon.  Vita  Sancti  Bonifacii  Episcopi  Maguntini, 
et  Martyris,  Auctore  Willihaldo  ipsius  discipulo.  Ex 
tomo  4.  Henrici  Canisii,  et  Nicolao  Serario.  In  Acta 
Sanctorum  Ordinis  S.  Benedicti,  saeculum  tertium,  pars 
secunda  (Lutetiae  Parisiorum,  1672),  pp.  4-27. 

In  the  second  edition  of  the  same  (Venetiis,  1734), 
pp.  1-25  (text,  pp.  3-25). 

Godfried  Henschen  and  Daniel  van  Papenbroeck.  Vita  I, 
auctore  Willihaldo  Presbytero.  Ex  Ms.  Trevirensi  et 
editionibus  tribus,  Canisii,  Serarii,  ac  Mabilionis.  In 
Acta  Sanctorum,  Junius,  torn,  i  (Antverpiae,  1695),  pp. 
460-473;  ibid.  (Venetiis,  1741),  pp.  460-473;  editio 
novissima,  curante  Joanne  Carnandet,  Junius,  torn,  i 
(Parisiis  et  Romae,  1867),  pp.  453-465. 

Georg  Heinrich  Pertz.  Vita  S.  Bonifacii  Archiepiscopi, 
auctore  Willibaldo  Presbytero.  In  Monumenta  Ger- 
maniae  Historica,  Scrip  tores,  ii  (Hannoverae,  1829), 
PP-  331-353  (text,  pp.  333-353)- 

John  Allen  Giles.  De  Vita  vel  Passione  Beatissimi  Mar- 
tyris Bonifacii,  auctore  Willibaldo.  In  his  Sancti  Boni- 
facii Opera  quae  extant  Omnia  (Londini,  1844),  vol.  ii, 
pp.  143-182.  From  Serarius,  with  some  emendations 
from  Pertz. 


EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS  99 

Giles  reprints  this  in  his  Vita  [!]  quorundum  [!] 
Anglo-Saxonum:  Original  Lives  of  Anglo-Saxons  and 
others,  who  lived  before  the  Conquest  (London,  1854), 
pp.  157-197.  This  volume  is  the  sixteenth  and  last  of 
the  Publications  of  the  Caxton  Society. 

Jacques  Paul  Migne.  Vita  S.  Bottifacii,  Auctore  Willibaldo, 
ipsius  discipulo.  In  Patrologia  Latina  (title  page,  Pa- 
ir ologiae  Cursus  Computus),  vol.  Lxxxix  (Parisiis,  1850), 
coll.  603-634.    Repeated  from  Mabillon. 

Philipp  Jafie.  Willibaldi  Vita  S.  Bonifatii.  In  his  Biblio- 
theca  Rerum  Germanicarum,  torn,  iii  (Monumenta  Mo- 
gun  tina),  Berolini,  1866,  pp.  429-471.  Also  in  Vitae 
Sancti  Bonifatii  Archiepiscopi  Moguntini,  reprinted 
for  school  use  from  the  above  work  in  the  same  place 
and  year,  pp.  10-52. 

Vita  Sancti  Bonifacii  Episcopi  Moguntini  et  Martyris, 
auctore  Willibaldo,  secundum  priorem,  ut  videtur,  con- 
scriptionem  nunc  primum  edita.  In  Analecta  Bollan- 
diana,  i  (Paris  and  Brussels,  1882),  pp.  51-72. 

Not  the  original  text  of  Willibald's  Life,  as  the  editors 
supposed,  but  a  condensation  made  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury or  earher.^ 

August  Niirnberger.  Vita  S.  Bonifatii,  auctore  Willibaldo. 
Aus  der  MUnchener  Handschrift  neu  herausgegeben  und 
mit  textkritischem  Apparat  versehen.  In  Siebenund- 
zwanzigster  Bericht  der  wissenschaftlichen  Gesellschaft 
Philomathie  in  Neisse  (Neisse,  1895),  pp.  113-180  (text, 
pp.  123-179).     Reprinted  in  separate  form,  Breslau, 

1895. 
The  reprint  adds  at  the  end  a  page  of  "  Erganzungen 

und  Berichtigungen." 

1  Analecla  Bollandiana,  xv,  pp.  268-270;  Levison,  Vitae  Bonifatii, 
pp.  xxvii  f. 


lOO         EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS 

Wilhelm  Levison.  Vita  Bonifatii  auctore  Willihaldo.  In 
his  Vitae  Sancti  Bonifatii  Archiepiscopi  Moguntini 
(Hannoverae  et  Lipsiae,  1905),  pp.  1-57.  With  a  full 
and  excellent  introduction  and  good  notes.  Levison's 
work  is  included  in  the  series  Scriptores  Rerum  Ger- 
manicarum  in  usum  Scholarum  ex  Monumentis  Ger- 
maniae  Historicis  separatim  editi;  but  it  is  in  no  sense  a 
repetition  of  Pertz's  edition. 

(b)  Selections 

Martin  Bouquet  prints  extracts  in  his  Recueil  des  His- 
toriens  des  Gaules  et  de  la  France,  torn,  iii  (Paris,  1741); 
pp.  664-666  (nouvelle  ed.,  1869),  and  torn,  v  (1744), 
pp.  424-425  (nouvelle  ed.,  1869).    From  Mabillon. 

Arthur  West  Haddan  and  William  Stubbs,  Councils  and 
Ecclesiastical  Documents  relating  to  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  vol.  iii  (Oxford,  1871),  pp.  295-296,  give  so 
much  of  Chapter  IV  as  in  this  translation  is  comprised 
in  the  second  paragraph,  lacking  the  last  sentence. 
From  Jaffe. 

Ernst  Diimmler,  in  Monumenta  Germaniae  Historica,  Epis- 
tolae  Karolini  Aevi,  ii  (Berolini,  1895),  pp.  500-501, 
gives  a  recension  of  the  Prologue  from  manuscripts. 

(c)  German  Translations 

Dat  leven  des  Erwerdighen  hilligen  Bisschops  und  mertelers 
sunte  Bonifacy.  A  fifteenth  century  Low  German  trans- 
lation of  the  Life  by  Willibald,  with  some  abridgment 
and  the  omission  of  the  Prologue,  the  beginning  of 
Chapter  VIII,  and  Chapter  IX,  and  with  some  addi- 
tions from  the  Life  attributed  to  Bishop  Radbod  of 


EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS  loi 

Utrecht.  The  translation  was  made  at  Freckenhorst  in 
Westphalia.  It  has  been  edited  by  W.  Dorow  {Denk- 
mdler  alter  Sprache  und  Kunst,  i,  i,  Bonn,  1823,  pp.  53- 
86)  and  by  J.  H.  Schulte  {Das  Leben  des  h.  Bonifacius, 
des  A  post  els  der  Deutschen,  in  niederdeutscher  Sprache, 
Warendorf  and  Miinster,  1852). 

Heinrich  Eduard  BonneU.  Leben  des  heiligen  Bonifacius 
von  Willibald.  Aus  der  Lateinischen  Urschrift  des  achten 
Jahrhunderts  zum  ersten  Male  iibertragen.    Berlin,  1856. 

Philipp  Hedwig  Kiilb.  Willibalds  Leben  des  heiligen  Boni- 
facius. In  his  Sammtliche  Schriften  des  heiligen  Boni- 
facius (Ratisbon,  1859),  vol.  ii,  pp.  213-270. 

Bernhard  Eduard  Simson.  Willibald' s  Leben  des  heiligen 
Bonifazius,  nach  der  Ausgabe  der  Monumenta  Ger- 
maniae  iibersetzt  und  erklart.  Berlin,  1863.  A  spirited 
and  scholarly  translation,  with  good  notes. 

Wilhelm  Arndt.  Willibalds  Leben  des  heiligen  Bonifazius. 
In  Die  Geschichtschreiber  der  deutschen  Vorzeit,  VIII. 
Jahrhundert,  2.  Band  (Berlin,  1863),  pp.  1-47;  second 
edition  (Leipsic,  1888),  pp.  1-52.  Arndt  anticipated 
the  editors  of  the  text  in  using  —  though  only  to  a 
limited  extent  — the  best  manuscript,  Monacensis 
1086. 

M.  M.  Wilden.  Willibald's  Leben  des  heiligen  Bonifacius, 
aus  den  Monumenta  Germaniae  iibersetzt.  An  appendix 
(pp.  315-360)  to  his  Beda  des  Ehrwiirdigen  Kirchenge- 
schichte  der  Angelsachsen  (Schaflfhausen,  1866). 

Heinrich  Joseph  Mertens.  Leben  oder  Leiden  des  seligsten 
Martyrers  Bonifazius,  verfasst  von  Willibald.  In  his 
Eine  heilige  Konigsfamilie  (Ratisbon,  etc.,  1875),  pp. 
1 24-1 75.    Of  inferior  value. 


I02         EDITIONS  AND  TRANSLATIONS 

(d)  French  Translation 

Charles  Barthelemy.  Vie  de  Saint  Boniface,  Archeveque 
de  Mayence  et  Martyr,  ecrite  au  Huitieme  Sibcle  par  Wil~ 
libalde,  Prttre  du  Diocese  de  Mayence,  et  completee  au 
Neuvieme  Sihcle  par  Saint  Ludger,  Premier  JEveque  de 
Mimigerneford.  In  his  Les  Vies  de  tous  les  Saints  de 
France  depuis  le  Premier  Sikle,  neuvieme  annee  (Ver- 
sailles, 1868):  the  Life  by  Willibald  in  coll.  705-745; 
extracts  from  Liudger's  Life  of  Gregory,  coll.  745-759. 


INDICES 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS  CITED 
IN  THE  NOTES 


Adam  of  Bremen,  86. 
Alcuin,  92. 
Aldhelm,  31,  41. 
Analecta  Bollandiana,  99. 
Annales  Regni  Francorum,  77. 
Arndt,  Wilhelm,  64,  82. 
Augustine,  Saint,  55,  62. 

Bede,  28,  31,  2,2>,  43,  5i,  92. 
Benedict  of  Nursia,  Saint,  30, 

34,  47- 
Bible,  The: 
Acts,  81. 

I  Corinthians,  37,  38,  39,  55, 
66,  73. 

II  Corinthians,  44,  47,  78. 
Daniel,  35. 
Deuteronomy,  39. 
Genesis,  87. 

Hebrews,  25,  65,  72. 

Isaiah,  62,  76. 

John,  35,  71,  82. 

Judges,  39. 

Luke,  29,  39,  80,  81. 

Mark,  35. 

Matthew,  29,  30,  53,  60,  66, 

77,  80,  83,  84. 
Numbers,  87. 
I  Peter,  83. 
Philemon,  35. 


Philippians,  35. 
Psalms,  37,  38,  86. 
Revelation,  86. 
Romans,  30,  35,  53,  68,  83. 

I  Thessalonians,  52,  83. 

II  Thessalonians,  47. 

I  Timothy,  35,  56. 

II  Timothy,  36,  55,  79,  83. 
Titus,  45. 

Binterim,  A.  J.,  12. 
Bohmer,  J.  F.,  63,  89,  90. 
Bonnell,  H.  E.,  64,  2>2. 

Capitular e  Suessionense,  72,  73. 
Cassianus,  Joannes,  34. 
Cicero,  83. 

DuCange,  47. 
Durand,  Ursin,  16. 

Ebert,  Adolf,  12. 
Ebrard,  August,  71. 
Eigil,  II,  81,  88,  89,  90. 
Eugippius,  29. 

Festgabe  zum  Bonifatius-Jubi- 

laum  igoj,  79,  86. 
Forschungen  zur  deuischen  Ge- 

schichte,  44. 


los 


io6 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


Gaisford,  Thomas,  13. 

Giles,  J.  A.,  13,  16. 

Giry,  Arthur,  50. 

Gregory  the  Great,  25,  34,  45, 

54. 

Hauck,  Albert,  11,  78. 
Hofmann,  G.  D.,  55. 

Isidorus  Hispalensis,  13, 31, 32, 
41,  62,  74. 

Jaffe,  Philipp,  14,  32,  80. 
Jerome,  Saint,  25. 

Karlmanni  Capitulate,  72. 
Kiilb,  P.  H.,  12,  64,  82. 
Kylie,  Edward,  16. 

Levison,  Wilhelm,  17,  27,  32, 
45,  54,  72,  73,  80,  83,  86,  99. 
Lindsay,  W.  M.,  86. 
Liudger,  55,  66. 

Mai,  Angelo,  12. 
Manitius,  Max,  13,  14,  17. 
Martene,  Edmond,  16. 
Martyrologium  Fuldense,  83. 
Migne,  J.   P.,   see   Patrologia 

Latina. 
Monumenta    Germaniae    His- 
torica  : 
Auctores  Antiquissimi,  ix,  23. 
Capitularia,  i,  72,  73,  89. 
Epistolae     Merowingici     et 
Karolini  Aevi,  ii,  15,  50. 
See   S.  Bonifatii  et  Lulli 
Epistolae. 
Leges,  sect,  v,  50. 


Poetae  Latini  Aevi  Carolini, 
i,  13,  14,  92. 

Scriptores,  ii,  81.    See  Eigil. 

Scriptores,  xv,  i,  12,  56,  77. 
See  Liudger,   Vita  Willi- 
baldi,  Vita  Wynnebaldi. 
Muhlbacher,  Engelbert,  63,  89, 

90. 

Nurnberger,  August,  12. 

Nun  of  Heidenheim,  the,  see 
Vita  Willibaldi,  Vita  Wynne- 
baldi. 

Otloh,  18,  63,  64,  82. 

Patrologia  Latina,  16,  25,  34, 

45- 
Poenitentiale  S.  Bonifacii,  12. 

Programm  des  konigl.   kathol- 

ischen  Gymnasiums  zuNeisse, 

12. 

Rettberg,  F.  W.,  12,  61,  78. 
Rheinisches  Museum,  13. 
Richter,  Gregor,  79. 
Roth,  Paul,  49. 
Rousseau,  J.  B.,  18. 
Rufinus,  25. 

S.  Bonifatii  et  Lulli  Epistolae, 
II,  13,  14,  IS,  16,33,41,  50, 
51,  52,61,62,63,67,  71,  72, 

73,  76,  77,  78,  79,  90. 
Scherer,  Carl,  86. 
Schmitz,  H.  J.,  12. 
Scott,  82. 
Scriptores     Rerum     Germani- 

carum,  77. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


107 


Selwyn,  William,  ^s,  56. 
Serarius,  Nicolaus,  12,  14. 
Silius  Italicus,  83. 
Simson,  B.  E.,  82. 
Smith,  I.  G.,  16. 
Soetbeer,  Adolf,  44. 
Symmachus,  Pope,  50. 


Tangl,  Michael,  89,  90,  91. 
Trithemius,  Joannes,  19. 


Victorius  Aquitanus,  23. 

Vita  Willibaldi,  77. 
Vita  Wynnebaldi,  11. 

Wasserschleben,  F.  W.  H.,  12. 
Wattenbach,  Wilhelm,  12,  17. 
Wilmanns,  August,  13. 

Zeitschrift  des  Vereins  fUr  hess- 
ische  Geschichte  und  Landes- 
kunde,  89. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Abba,  Prankish  count,  93. 
Adalharius(Ethelhere),83,n.  i. 
Ad-Escancastre  (Exeter),  30. 
Aelmere  (the  Zuyder  Zee),  80, 

88. 
Aethelbald,  king  of  Mercia,  15. 
Aldebert,  GaUic  pseudo-saint, 

72  f. 
Aldhelm,  15. 
Alps,  the,  49,  51,  58. 
AUsaxones,  62,  n.  2. 
Amanaburch  (Amoneburg),  56, 

57,  68. 
Anacletus  (Anicetus),  25. 
Ananias,  61,  n.  3. 
Ancients,  the  (the  old  Saxons), 

30,  41- 
Angles,  43. 
Anointing  of  Pippin,  the,  77, 

n.  9. 
Arianism,  74. 
Auguries,  63. 

Augustine,  Saint,  72,  n.  4. 
Auspices,  63. 

Barbarians,  55. 

Bavarians,  the,  51,  68,  70,  71, 

77- 

Bee,  simile  of  the,  51  f. 

Bell,  miracle  of  the,  88  f. 

Benedict,  Saint,  of  Nursia,  34. 

Beorwald,  abbot  of  Glaston- 
bury, 41. 


Berehthere,  opponent  of  Boni- 
face, 65. 

Bertwald,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury (692-731),  41  f. 

Bibrantibus,  82,  n.  3. 

Boniface,  Saint,  11,  24,  25. 
name  of,  47,  61. 
writings  of,  12-16. 
Life  of,  by  Willibald,  17,  23- 

93- 
later  lives,  17  f. 
modern    literature    relative 

to,  18  f. 
importance  and  character  of 

his  work,  19  f. 
his  mother,  27. 
his  father,  27-30. 
early  desire  for  the  monastic 

life,  27-30. 
enters    the    monastery    at 

Exeter,  30. 
early  studies,  31  f. 
overcomes  the  passions  of 

youth,  32. 
removes  to  Nhutscelle,  :^2>- 
great  learning  of,  ^:i  I. 
gains  fame  as  teacher  and 

preacher,  34-38. 
ordained  priest,  38  f. 
abstinence  of,  39. 
embassy  to  Canterbury,  40  fl. 
first  missionary  journey  to 

Frisia,  42-45. 


109 


no 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Boniface,  again  at  Nhutscelle, 
46  f. 
first  journey  to  Rome,  47-51. 
labors  in  Thuringia,  52,  64ff., 

69,  77- 
aids  Willibrord  in  Frisia,  52- 

56. 

converts  many  Hessians, 
57  f.,  62  £f. 

second  journey  to  Rome,  58- 
62. 

ordination  as  bishop,  60  flf. 

under  the  protection  of 
Charles  Martel,  62. 

fells  the  sacred  oak,  63  f. 

receives  reenforcements  from 
England,  66  f . 

made  archbishop,  67. 

builds  churches,  68. 

inspects  the  Bavarian 
churches,  68. 

third  journey  to  Rome,  69  f. 

attacks  schismatics  in  Ba- 
varia, 68,  70  f. 

ordains  bishops,  71,  77,  78. 

at  the  Frankish  church  coun- 
cils, 71-76. 

conflict  with  Aldebert  and 
Clemens,  72  f. 

appoints  Lul  his  successor 
in  the  see  of  Mayence,  78. 

his  final  missionary  work  in 
Frisia,  78-82. 

the  martyrdom,  82  flf. 

the  sepulture,  87-90. 

miracles  following  his  death, 

90-93- 
Bordne  (Boorn),  river,  82. 

Bosa,  deacon,  81. 


Britain,  24,  66,  70. 
Bugga,  abbess,  16. 
Burchard,  bishop  of  Wurzburg, 

77- 
Burgundians,  the,  58. 
Bynna,  messenger,  58. 

Caesarius,  bishop  of  Aries,  50, 

n.  2. 
Canterbury,  41. 
Carloman,  duke  of  Austrasia 

(741-47),  71,  72,  73,  74,  76, 

77- 

Ceillier,  Remy,  16. 

Celtic  missionaries  in  Ger- 
many, 70,  n.  4. 

Chalcedon,  Council  of  (451), 

75- 

Charles  Martel,  Frankish  may- 
or of  the  palace  and  duke  of 
Austrasia,  44,  53,  62,  71. 

Clemens,  expelled  from  the 
church  by  Boniface,  72  f. 

Codices  Bonifatiani,  86,  n.  2. 

Confession  of  faith,  59. 

Constantine  the  Great,  Roman 
emperor,  74. 

Constantinople,     Council     of 

(381),  74  f- 
Councils,   ecclesiastical,   40  f., 

71  f.,  74fif.,  77  f-,  89,  n.  2. 
Crimean  War,  the,  18,  n.  i. 
Crooked  serpent,  the,  76. 
Cuent  (Canche)  river,  49. 
Cuentawich,  49. 

Danes,  the,  43,  n.  4. 
Daniel,  bishop  of  Winchester 
(705-45),  16,  47,  48. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


III 


Deorulf,  German  chief,  57. 
Dettic,  German  chief,  57. 
Deuteronomy,  Book  of,  72,  n.  4. 
Dionysius  Exiguus,  61,  n.  2. 
Dioscurus,     excommunicated, 

75- 
Divinations,  63. 
Donatus,  13. 
Dorstet,  city,  43. 
Dudd,  abbot,  14,  16. 
Diimmler,  Ernst,  13,  15. 

Eadburga,  abbess,  16. 

Eanbercht,  opponent  of  Boni- 
face, 65. 

East  Franks,  the,  77. 

Ebert,  Adolf,  18. 

Eigil,  II. 

England,  18. 

Eoba  (Eobanus),  assistant  to 
Boniface,  81,  83,  n.  i. 

Ephesus,  Council  of  (431),  75. 

Episcopi  suburbicarii,  61,  n.  3. 

Epistola  formata,  50,  n.  3. 

Erembert,  bishop  of  Freising, 

71- 
Eremvulf,  schismatic,  68. 

Ethelhere,  priest,  81,  83,  n.  i. 
Eusebius  of  Caesarea,  25. 
Eutyches,  abbot  of  Constanti- 
nople, excommunicated,  75. 
Exempla  virtutis,  12,  n.  i. 
Exeter,  see  Ad-Escancastre. 

Fountain,  miracle  of  the,  92  f. 

Francia,  52,  75. 

Franks,  the,  44,  58,  62,  70,  72, 

77- 

Freising,  71. 


Frideslare    (Fritzlar),    church 

and  monastery  at,  68. 
Frisia,  44,  52,  80,  81,  93. 
Frisians,  the,  44,  45,  52,  53,  57, 

80,  81,  n.  3,  92. 

Fulda,  abbey,  11,  18,  81,  n.  3. 
cathedral  of,   79,  86,  n.   i, 
90,  n.  I. 
Fulda,  river,  88. 

Gaesmere  (Geismar),  feUing  of 

the  sacred  oak  at,  63  f. 
Gaibald,  bishop  of  Ratisbon, 

71- 
Gaul,  24. 
Germany,  14,  18,  24,  51,  55,  57, 

81,  n.  3. 

Giles,  John  Allen,  13,  16. 
Glestingaburg    (Glastonbury), 

monastery,  41. 
Gregory   I,   the   Great,   pope 

(590-604),  25,  72,  n.  4. 
Gregory    II,    pope    (715-31), 

49  ff-,  55,  58,  59-62,  67,  74. 
Gregory   III,    pope    (731-41), 

67  f.,  69  f.,  71,  n.  2,  74. 
Gregory,  disciple  of  Boniface, 

II,  55,  n-  4- 
Gundaecer,  monk,  81. 

Hadda,  monk,  88. 
Haegsted  (Eichstatt),  77. 
Hamanaburch,  68.    See  Aman- 

aburch. 
Hamund,  deacon,  81. 
Hathovulf,  monk,  81. 
Hauck,  Albert,  18. 
Heathen,  Heathens,  see  Pagans. 
Heden,  Thuringian  chief,  65. 


112 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Hegesippus,  25. 

Heretics,  74  f . 
in  Thuringia,  52,  65. 
in  Bavaria,  68,  70. 
among  the  Franks,  72  f. 
early  Celtic  missionaries  in 
Germany,  70,  n.  4. 

Hessians,  the,  57,  62  ff.,  67,  69. 

Hilary,  Roman  archdeacon,  23, 
n.  I. 

Hugobert,    duke   of   the    Ba- 
varians, 68. 

Hunraed,  opponent   of  Boni- 
face, 65. 

lar,  month,  51. 

Illehere,  monk,  81. 

Incantations,  63. 

Ine,  king  of  the  West  Saxons 

(688-725),  40  ff. 
Infula,  41,  n.  5. 
Isidore  of  Seville,  13. 
Italy,  SI,  58,  70- 
Itinerant   preaching,    practice 

of,  28. 

Jafife,  Philipp,  14. 
Jerome,  Saint,  72,  n.  4. 
John,  bishop  of  Salzburg,  71. 

Kent,  41- 

KyUe,  Edward,  16. 

Lateran,  the,  59. 
Legerdemain,  63. 
Levison,  Wilhelm,  17. 
Liutprand,  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards (712-44),  51,  70. 
Lombards,  the,  49,  51,  70. 


Lul,  successor  of  Boniface  in 
the  bishopric  of  Mayence, 
IS,  17,  23,  78,  79  f.,  88,  89, 
92. 

Lundenwich  (London),  43,  48. 

Macedonius,  condemned,  75. 
Magontia  (Mayence),  city,  74, 

88,  89. 
Mai,  Angelo,  12. 
Manitius,  Max,  18. 
Megingoz,    bishop    of    Wurz- 

burg,  17,  23. 
Migne,  J.  A.,  16. 
Miliies,  49,  n.  3. 
Miracles,  88  f.,  90  f.,  92  f. 

Nestorius,      excommunicated, 

75- 
Nhutscelle     (NursUng,     Nut- 

shalling),  monastery,  13,  33, 

41. 
Nice,  Council  of  (325),  74. 
Nisan,  month,  51. 
Nithard,  14,  16. 
Nun  of  Heidenheim,  the,  11. 

Oak  of  Jupiter,  the,  63  f. 
Odilo,  duke  of  the  Bavarians, 

70  f. 
Oilpress,  simile  of  the,  23  f. 
Orthorpf  (Ohrdruf),  monastery 

at,  66. 
Ostoraeche,  district  in  Frisia, 

82. 
Otloh,  monk  of  St.  Emmeram, 

17  f. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


"3 


Pagans,  19  f.,  32,  n.  i,  57,  66, 
n.  2. 

in  Frisia,  44,  52  f.,  80-87. 

Hessians,  57  f.,  63  f.,  67. 

Thuringians,  65,  67. 

slaughter  Boniface  and  his 
companions,  82  ff. 

quarrel  over  the  booty,  84  fif. 

chastised,  86  f. 

heathen  practices,  16,  63. 
Pamphilus,  25. 
Pilgrims'  lodge,  the,  at  Rome, 

59- 

Pippin,  duke  of  Neustria  (from 
741),  of  Austrasia  (from  747), 
king  of  the  Franks  (751-68), 
71,  72,  73,  77  f-,  88,  89,  n.  2, 
92,  93- 

Plebis,  47,  n.  4,  62,  n.  2. 

Potthast,  August,  18. 

Radbod,  king  of  the  Frisians, 

44,  52,  53- 
Regina  (Ratisbon),  71. 
Rettberg,  F.  W.,  18. 
Rhine,  the,  53,  n.  i,  80,  89,  n.  i. 
Romans,  69. 

Rome,  19,  25,  47,  58,  67,  69. 
Rousseau,  Johann  Baptist,  18. 
Ruthard,    fictitious   monk    of 

Hirschau,  19. 

Sacrificial  rites,  63. 

Saint  Michael,  church  of,  at 

Hamanaburch,  68. 
Saint    Peter,    church    of,    at 

Frideslare,  68. 
Saint    Peter,    church    of,    at 

Rome,  49,  59. 


Saint    Peter,    oratory    of,    at 

Gaesmere,  64. 
Salzburch  (Salzburg),  71. 
Sapphira,  61,  n.  3. 
Saxons,  of  England,  43,  70. 
Saxons,  people  of  Germany,  57, 

65,  77- 
Schismatics,  see  Heretics. 
Scirbald,  deacon,  81. 
Scythia,  14. 
Selwyn,  William,  18. 
Serarius,  Nicolaus,  14. 
'  Seron,'  13,  n.  6. 
Sevenfold  spirit,  the,  62. 
Slaves,  38. 
Slavs,  14,  77. 

Smith,  Isaac  Gregory,  16,  18. 
Soissons,  77,  n.  9. 
Soldiers,  the,  49,  58. 
Springs,  sacrifices  to,  63. 
Stephen  II,  pope  (752-57),  62, 

n.  I,  89,  n.  2. 
Stephen,  successor  of  Winbert, 

48. 
Sturmi,  abbot  of  Fulda,  11. 

Theodosius  I,  the  Great,  Ro- 
man emperor,  75. 

Theodosius  II,  emperor  of  the 
East  (408-50),  75. 

Theotbald,   Thuringian  chief, 

65. 
Thuringia,  51,  52,  64  f.,  67,  69, 

79- 
Thuringi  Christiani,  62,  n.  2. 

Ticena  (Pavia),  70. 
Tides,  the,  92. 

Torchtwine,  opponent  of  Boni- ' 
face,  65. 


114 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Trecht  (Utrecht),  city,  44,  81, 
88  f. 

Trees,  sacrifices  to,  63. 

Trithemius,  Joannes,  19. 

Turkey,  18,  n.  i. 

Tuscany,  24. 

Tyssesburg  (Tisbury),  monas- 
tery, 41. 

Uncultivated  fields,  metaphor 

of  the,  51. 
Utrecht,  see  Trecht. 

Victims,  inspection  of,  63. 
Vivilo,  bishop  of  Passau,  71, 

n.  2, 
Voyages,  43,  46,  48  f. 

on  the  Rhine,  53,  80,  88,  89. 

on  Aelmere,  80,  87  f. 

Wacchar,  monk,  81. 
Waldburga,  abbess  of  Heiden- 

heim,  11,  n.  i. 
Walthere,  priest,  81. 


Westeraeche,  district  in  Frisia, 

82. 
Willibald,  author  of  the  Life  of 

Boniface,  11,  17. 
Wilhbald,  bishop  of  Eichstatt, 

II,  77- 
WiUibrord,  EngUsh  missionary, 

'  apostle    of    the    Frisians,' 

53  ff- 
Winbert,  abbot  of  Nhutscelle, 

33,  41,  42  f.,  46. 
Wintra,  abbot  of  Tisbury,  41. 
Wintrung,  priest,  81. 
Wirzaburch  (Wiirzburg),  77. 
World,  nature  of  the,  76. 
Wulfhard,  abbot  of  Ad-Escan- 

castre,  30,  32. 
Wynnebald,  abbot  of  Heiden- 

heim,  11. 

Yeomen,  38. 

Zacharias,  pope  (741-52),  14, 
16,  62,  n.  I,  76,  n.  I. 


DUE  DATE 

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